Jailbait
by ThisLooksLikeAJobForMe
Summary: Loki, imprisoned on Asgard, is visited by a young human girl who simply wanted to find a better use of her time than hacking into the White House. Little did he know that this girl would get under his skin, and worm her way into his heart, proving to be his greatest weakness. Loki/OC. COMPLETE - SEQUEL NOW UP!
1. Chapter 1

**Jailbait**

**1**

**Hi there! So I saw Avengers (Assemble) and it gave me plot bunnies, when I really should be focussing on revising for my exams and my other stories that I'm neglecting. Here's a Loki/OC story, set mainly after the movie that will probably run to no more than ten chapters. The whole story is dedicated to Jen, who is wonderful and I love her and she loves the Hiddleston. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review! (I reply to all signed reviews, and if you don't have an account, leave me your Twitter/Tumblr and I will respond to your review via those).  
I'm going to try to keep this story quite humorous, but there will inevitably be some parts where either a) my funnies will be unfunny or b) there is a need for angst and whatnot.  
I own nothing but my OC (who is in fact based loosely on Jen, on her insistence and who I most certainly do NOT own) and the plot. No copyright infringement intended. Rated for swearing and some snogging (tee hee, snogging).  
Saskia x**

_Two gunshots rang out, echoing around the house. I sat bolt upright in my bed, instantly awake. The smart side of my brain told me to stay where I was, call the police...anything other than tip toe down the stairs to investigate, but 12 year olds very rarely listen to the smart side of their brain. I cautiously made my way out of my room and downstairs, avoiding the two creaky steps on the way. I turned the corner into my kitchen, and was assaulted with the sight of my parents' dead bodies, their blood spreading across the tiled floor. A red haired woman was searching the drawers for something, and I took a step back, holding my hand over my mouth to stop myself screaming. I went to my dad's office and took out the loaded gun he kept in the desk and clicked off the safety. I approached the kitchen again, avoiding looking at the dead bodies on the floor. I levelled the firearm at the woman._

"_Why did you kill them?" She spun round, two guns flying from their holsters into her hands and aimed at me. Her face softened slightly as she looked at me._

"_Because they were bad people who needed to be stopped." She said simply. I shook my head._

"_They weren't bad people to me."_

"_We didn't realise there was a child. They clearly were very good at keeping you a secret." _

"_Clearly." My eyes strayed compulsively to my parents lying on the floor, and I choked on a sob. I begged them with my mind to jump up, and to be as alive as they were five minutes ago, but it was futile._

"_My name is Natasha. What's yours?" The red haired woman – Natasha – lowered her guns, but didn't put them away._

"_Lily." My gun stayed trained on her face, and my hands barely shook. Barely._

"_Well, Lily, come with me. I can't leave you here, and I doubt you have any family to look after you." I raised an eyebrow, tilting my head towards the floor. "Well...you know. My organisation, S.H.I.E.L.D, we can take care of you." I could see that she was uncomfortable with the situation._

"_What, like you took care of my parents?" She frowned. I looked to the side. "Well, it looks like you didn't do a very good job of 'taking care of them'. They're still alive." She whipped round, her guns trained on them again and I took my chance. I knew they were both dead, and the last thing I wanted was to be taken care of by the people who ordered their execution. I ran up the stairs two at a time, and grabbed the bag Dad had packed for me and insisted I keep under my bed. I suppose that they always knew this might happen. I wish I knew __**why**__ it had. I thrust my feet into some trainers and pushed my window open as far as it would go. I could hear the woman scrambling up the stairs, so I didn't hesitate in swinging my legs outside and jumping lightly down onto the grass. Clearly the years of ballet classes had made me more graceful than I look. I took off in a run, leaving behind my dead parents and home for the past 12 years, with nothing more than a rucksack, the contents of which I did not know._

I blinked sharply as the chiming of my computer pulled me from my past. An error message popped up on my screen and I impatiently shot it down with a couple of clicks, watching the lines of code appear and disappear as quickly. I barrelled through the firewalls and locks with ease, marvelling at how little S.H.I.E.L.D cared about their security. It wasn't long before I had hacked my way into their interface, and honestly, it was hardly challenging. About as difficult as hacking into the White House's comms (one of the President's body guards likes naughty phone calls, tee hee). I leaned forward, scanning my screen. I'd seen the portal opening on TV, and the monstrous Chitauri, but I wanted to know what was really going on. Naturally, S.H.I.E.L.D was my first port of call. The moment I had seen Black Widow on the news, I opened my laptop.

The situation wasn't great. I listened in to the Avengers' conversation, and could hear the panic in their voices. I was surprised to see Thor again, but that's a story for another time. I sat for hours watching S.H.I.E.L.D's newsfeed, caught up in the invasion in Manhattan. I was so focussed on it, I will admit I freaked out a little when the nuke was sent from the Helicarrier, but then I remembered I was two states away from the danger zone. As the Chitauri died on the streets of the city, I stretched and rubbed my face. That was interesting.

I debated offering my services to S.H.I.E.L.D while I opened the fridge and searched for some edible food. I mean, if an 18 year old (with no instruction in computer hacking since her mom taught her the rudimentary skills when she was 11) can manage to log into one of the most secret...secret services on the planet (and beyond), then they are definitely open to attack from those with more than idle curiosity. I could offer to fix their security for a sizeable fee, and not have to work again for the rest of the year. Or I could leave it. Honestly, if they were that stupid, then let them be vulnerable. I had long since moved past them killing my parents (after reading the files, I can even see why they did it), but I didn't need money right now. They could stay weak.

My eyes lit upon the battered rucksack in the corner. I don't know why I kept it. Sentiment, I suppose. That rucksack had contained everything that had enabled me to live beyond my parents' deaths; a new identity, money that kept me going for a year, a laptop, clothes, contacts for if I got into difficulty. The rucksack itself was useless now – the bottom fell out a couple of years ago – but it was a reminder of the last protection my parents could offer me, and I couldn't let that go.

I sat on my battered desk chair with a theatrical sigh. My life literally revolved around computers. I could fix a couple of companies' security for cash, and live comfortably in my small flat for the year. I could hack into the White House for fun. I could watch breaking news before it broke. And I was sick to death of it.

But what else could I do? I didn't want to have a solid job that would restrain me, but I had little or no talents other than with computers. I could do ballet and play piano, which would clearly lead to a kick ass career...not. I knew some martial arts and how to fire a gun, but my clumsiness rendered that nearly useless. I was just an 18 year old girl with no one in the world. I had blonde hair that fell half way down my back, and a fringe that never did exactly as I wanted it to. I couldn't wear makeup because of my allergies, and I seemed to be doomed to a life of perpetual shortness. There's nothing I could do asides from fire up the internet and carry on with my kinda pathetic virtual life.

**~X~**

What am I doing here? Seriously, what? What on earth compelled me to travel to the warzone Manhattan on the day that Thor and Loki were travelling back across the realms to Asgard? Why would I do that? Was I deranged? Mentally retarded? A complete fuckwit?

Apparently, yes.

I walked calmly across the park to where the Avengers had assembled and leant against a tree, unlocking my iPhone so it looked as though I was just a random person doing random things. I doubted that Natasha Romanoff would recognise me, but I was wearing big sunglasses as a precaution. I saw Thor turn to speak to the mismatch of heroes, and Loki standing with a funny muzzle thing strapped to his face. Even with the gag...he was pretty good looking. Why is it that the bad guys always are? He made eye contact with me and I quickly looked back down at my phone, blushing furiously, scrolling through the information I had stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D on the Tesseract, some sort of not-so-mythical power source that was currently in a casket held by the God of Thunder. The aforementioned turned away from the so-called heroes and offered a handle of the casket to Loki.

_Now._

I sprinted across the distance between us and wrapped my hand around Thor's wrist as he rotated the handle, barely registering his cry of alarm and Loki's muffled exclamation as the Tesseract's power engulfed us, and I left the realm of Midgard for the first time.

**Okay, promise the next one will be better. Reviewers get (metaphorical) cookies!**


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

**AN: This story is on the assumption that Thor had visited Jane at some point between the events of Thor and Avengers. Semantics...which I cannot be bothered to account. Just go with it ^_^ Thank you to everyone who has alerted/favourited this story – you can review, you know, I don't bite!  
Also, helluva lot of talking in this chapter. I'm sorry for that, but not sorry enough to change it.**

Travelling across the universe with no form of protection was something I did NOT really want to experience again, thank you very much. I suppose it was alright for _gods_, who were all _godlike_ and _badass_, but for a human? Bleugh. It felt like I was being squashed into a tiny ball while being stretched out to be a mile long (I want to be taller, but not _that_ tall), and simultaneous being fried and frozen. Hardly pleasant.

We landed and I dropped to my knees, coughing as the air returned to my lungs. I think I now knew what it was like to be microwaved. That, or tortured. There was a ringing in my ears, and it took a while for that to subside enough for me to be able to hear Thor's rumbling voice.

"Who are you? Why did you follow us?" I looked up, still breathing heavily, to see Loki being escorted away by some guards who looked incredibly buff...damn, that was distracting. I blinked a couple of times and looked back at the confused and furious God of Thunder. Comprehension dawned on his face and a hand grasped the top of my arm (I'm sure he thought he was being gentle, but gentle to a giant like him, and gentle to girl like me are two completely different things. Ow). "Lizzie?"

"Lily." I corrected, wincing at the gargled sound of my voice and coughing again.

"Jane's friend?" I nodded. "Why are you here? Where is Jane?"

"I'm here because there isn't anything for me on Earth, and I wanted to do _something_ different. Jane's not with me, I haven't spoken to her in months. We were never that close to start off with." I let Thor help me to my feet, all the while berating myself for being so conscious of his incredible hotness. Why are there so many good looking men? Just why? "Please, I have thought this through. Let me talk before you send me back." Thor looked pensive, but eventually nodded. He sent away some guards (who I hadn't noticed, but apparently they were all pointing sharp things at me, fully prepared to shish kebab me if I made a wrong move) and led me down a long corridor. I was completely awed by my surroundings – I could only assume that it was a palace of some kind. I received many strange looks from the people of Asgard who were also there; they looked like normal humans if you ignore the strange (but awesome) clothes.

Thor opened a door and ushered me inside, and I found myself in what could only be his bedroom. He pulled out a chair for me while slyly kicking some clothes under the dresser and picking up a plate of half-eaten food and dropping it in a drawer. Men. Whether they're gods or humans, they're all the same. He found a clean glass and poured me some water, which I gladly accepted, sighing as the soothing liquid dripped down my throat. Travelling across realms is thirsty work. He dragged another chair over in front of me and sat down, his eyes looking all intense and pretty as they studied me.

"That was very dangerous, you know. I imagine that most humans would have passed out after being exposed to that sort of power, perhaps even have been killed. You are either very brave, or very foolish." I smiled sheepishly.

"Probably a bit of both, if I'm honest." He shook his head, trying (and failing) to disguise a grin as disapproval.

"I hope that you have a good reason for your actions, and I hope you are prepared for disappointment if you want to stay in Asgard, Lily. I cannot be lenient just because you are a friend of Jane's." I bit my lip.

"Promise you'll let me finish? And that if you do decide I can't stay, you don't send me back today? That travelling thing was nasty, and I really don't want to experience it twice in one day."

"You have my word." I nodded gratefully, taking another mouthful of water before beginning.

"When I was 12 years old, my parents were killed by S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha Romanoff was the one to carry out the assassination, but Fury ordered it. Mom and Dad were criminals, specialising mainly in drug and arms export and importation, but they kept me out of it completely. S.H.I.E.L.D didn't even know I existed when they sent Black Widow. She offered to vouch for me to S.H.I.E.L.D, so they could train me up or something, but I ran. I didn't want the person responsible for my parents' death to be responsible for me. I wasn't even a teenager, but I was left to make my own way through the world.

"It was hard, especially in the first few months, but without my knowing, my parents had prepared me for this my whole life. When other kids were learning their ABCs, I was learning how to hack into cashpoints to get money. While everyone else was going to school, I was being taught how to break into empty houses and cook with the bare minimum of equipment and ingredients. As I got older, we progressed onto martial arts, and serious computer hacking. I'd go to piano and ballet lessons at the local academy, and then learn dirty kickboxing when I got home, or how to fire a gun. They made it seem perfectly innocent, a bit of fun, but I realise now that they were training me to follow in their footsteps. At the very least, it's what kept me alive in the years after they died.

"I managed to get my own place when I was 15, and no one questioned why I wasn't in school, because my parents had left me lists of people to get in touch with to ensure I didn't need to worry about it. I spent most of my time on the computer, learning how to programme and hack into pretty much anything I wanted."

"Programme? Hack? I'm sorry, I do not understand." I smiled at Thor.

"No, sorry, I should have realised. You know what computers are, right?" He nodded, though uncertainly. "Well, basically, programming and hacking are manipulating what computers can do and looking at the information they store, to put it simply. I could write a programme that contains codes to go around any security an organisation might have in place, and then hack into their computer mainframe...like, the big database...and see what they're hiding, or what plans they have. I didn't do it as a criminal activity, but simply because I was bored. It gave me something to do, and later, it gave me a job. I'd hack into an organisation's security, and then contact them offering to fix it. It paid well, and it was easy to live off a couple of jobs a year.

"When I saw the Chitauri invasion on the news, I went straight in to S.H.I.E.L.D's database to find out all I could. I'd seen you on there, and I was curious, to say the least. The footage of you lot was great – totally worth the hack. I got more information than what was shown on the news, and at the same time I could read up on the Avengers, and the Tesseract, and Loki, and the Chitauri. For someone like me, it was as if all my birthdays had come at once.

"But it made me think about what it is I do with my life. Or rather, what I don't do. I barely exist in the physical world – everything I do revolves around a computer screen, a virtual reality if you like. I realised that I wanted to do something for the good of other people, rather than just staving off boredom my entire life. So I thought I'd follow you. See if I could do something useful on a world without computers and hacking and stuff like that." I exhaled. I never spoke that much at once. Well, I did, but that was on the internet, and didn't require my mouth moving.

"I'm sorry, my Lady, but I cannot think of any place on Asgard where your skill set would be appreciated. You could do more worthwhile things that work with your talents if you go home, perhaps offer your services to S.H.I.E.L.D." I sighed in exasperation.

"That's exactly it. I still don't want to be in the care, or even on the payroll of the organisation that ordered my parents' death, even if it was justified. I don't have a home. Not on Earth. There's no one for me there, and I just waste my life away."

"What about Jane?"

"The world hardly revolves around her, Thor." I smile. "We were never the best of friends, we just hung out because there was nowhere better to go, and no one better to stay with. I really have no ties to Earth that would seriously pain me to severe, and I'm prepared to. That's why I followed you."

"But what could you expect to do here on Asgard? You're an intelligent woman, surely you had more of a plan than to simply hope that you would be accepted." I looked at my hands.

"Well...I had half an idea. I know it might not work out, but I suppose I should at least tell you..." I coughed nervously. "What is to be Loki's fate?"

"Loki?" Thor looked confused. "What has my brother to do with this?"

"Just humour me. What's going to happen to him?"

"Well, he'll be put on trial...many would want him executed for his crimes, but I will try to sway the court against that fate. I imagine he will either be imprisoned or exiled. If he is exiled, I doubt it would be to Midgard, for he has caused too much trouble there already. Possibly to another realm. Imprisonment would be my favoured option for him." I nodded.

"Where would he be imprisoned? The local jail?" Thor scoffed.

"We would not want him imprisoned with other criminals to plot with. There are dungeons below the castle, away from the vault, that would be converted. His imprisonment would be solitary and lengthy. There wouldn't be any need for guards, the dungeons are very well protected. He would be on his own, save for any visitors he might have. I doubt many people beyond myself would visit him, and he would not welcome my presence very much." I could tell that Thor wasn't really comfortable with the idea of his (adoptive) brother being completely alone, but knew that there was little hope for a better fate for him. This could work in my favour.

"So...it would basically be solitary confinement?" Thor nodded. "Well...what I'm proposing is...well, my idea was that...I could possibly...it could be organised so that..."

"Speak, Lily. Do not worry about offending or angering me. I swore I would listen to your plans before passing judgement." Thor smiled at me, kindness radiating from his eyes and I squirmed. He was so GOOD LOOKING and it was really quite off putting.

"I thought that maybe I couldbecompanyforLoki." Thor quirked his eyebrows. Clearly, he didn't understand what I said. I sighed. "I thought...that I could be company for Loki. Not guard him or anything-" Thor stood and started pacing angrily. I followed him and put a hand on his arm, stopping him in his tracks. "I'm not saying that I would guard him, because I know he wouldn't need that, and even if he did, I would hardly be appropriate for the job. I'm just saying that he will need someone to talk to, someone who isn't going to keep bringing up his wrongdoings." Thor shook his head.

"No. Absolutely not. For one, it is too dangerous. Loki is the God of Mischief and Lies, and he would lead you astray within a week. Secondly, he would welcome the presence of a human like a Chitauri attack on himself, and attack you before we could do anything to stop it. I cannot allow it, Lily."

"You said you'd hear me out!" I accused.

"Yes, but I hadn't realised that your reasons would be such madness. Loki must be left alone. I cannot be too merciful to him, or the people will think I am weak. You must go back to Midgard, Lily. I will speak to S.H.I.E.L.D on your behalf." He brushed past me and I ran after him, sliding between him and the door and resting a hand on his chest.

"Think about it, Thor. Loki is mad anyway. Do you really want to confine him, with no company other than his own, for him to go even more insane through loneliness? Don't you think that if that happened, his plans for world domination would be even more ruthless and reckless and even more difficult to stop? I'm not saying that I'd be his ally. I'm just saying that he should have some company to prevent him going even madder than he already is, and I'm volunteering for the job. I doubt you'll have many other takers." I held Thor's gaze for what seemed like hours. I could almost see the internal battle going on inside his mind – send me home, and leave Loki to his own company (bearing in mind that the best person Loki could scheme with is his even more insane self), or assign me the duty of Loki's companion, and leave me susceptible to his charms and mood swings. He sighed.

"If I was to agree...and I'm not saying that I will...what would your terms be?" I smiled.

"I'd spend a couple of hours with Loki every day, maybe with a day off each week or something. In my spare time, I'd help you use the Tesseract to give Asgard power, and be able to run machinery and suchlike, which would mean you could do so much more, and even perhaps get equipment from Earth to work here. I'd want some access to the Tesseract to use it to charge up my phone and laptop etcetera, and my own room. The room wouldn't have to be big or anything, I'm not hugely fussy. I brought clothes with me-" I nodded towards the holdall I'd dropped in the corner of the room. "-and I wouldn't even ask for payment if I could stay here, and be fed." I surreptitiously crossed my fingers behind my back. Thor rubbed his hand across his face, and he suddenly looked a lot older than his years, and at the same time, a lot younger and more vulnerable. I waited anxiously for his answer. He stepped back with a sigh.

"If Loki is sentenced to imprisonment, and if he is agreeable to your company after your first visit...then yes. But only then, and if he manipulates or hurts you in anyway, the deal is off. Your first visits would be supervised, and we would have to install some sort of alarm for you to trigger if something went wrong..." I grinned and impulsively hugged him. He seemed surprised, but returned my embrace. I pulled back, beaming up at the God of Thunder (who really was very buff...mmmm...yum...NO, STOP IT LILY, HE IS JANE'S!). He smiled down at me. "You seem very happy at the thought of spending your time with the person who spearheaded the attack on Midgard."

"It's not that, I just...I feel like I could be doing something worthwhile here, which is more than can be said of my time on Earth."

"You would still undoubtedly be better off there. Now, I must go attend Loki's trial. You stay here. I will explain your presence to the court while I'm gone." Thor left the room and I sat down on his bed. I was now Loki's...companion? I don't know. Whatever I was, and whatever I'm to do, it must be better than hacking into the White House's security for the shits and giggles.

**Reviewers get (metaphorical) cake. And PS. I know jackshit about hacking etc. and have never, and will never hack into the White House to find out what the security guards there like to do in their spare time. All that stuff came purely from my imagination. Just so we're clear.**


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

**Finally, the interesting bit.**

I sat anxiously on Thor's bed, waiting for him to return. I had really put myself on the line here, but somehow, I couldn't bring myself to regret what I did. I stood up and refilled my glass of water from a crystalline jug on the table, purely for the sake of having something to do. Curiosity got the better of me and I walked over to the dresser, looking at the different things on it. I didn't recognise half of them – some were clearly tools, there was a comb and a shaving knife, but I didn't even want to _consider_ what the rest were for. I picked up a..._thing_...that looked to be some sort of cross between a hammer and screwdriver, and held it up to the light, allowing the symbols etched upon it to become clear. They looked Norwegian (because clearly, I had a vast knowledge of Norwegian...not). I leant out of the window alongside the dresser and breathed in the foreign, yet somehow familiar air. I really hoped that I could stay here. From my vantage point, I could see across Asgard, and the metallic buildings seemed almost magical in the fading sunlight. I remembered something that Jane said Thor told her once – 'Where I come from, science and magic are one and the same' – and I could completely understand what he meant. I wanted nothing more to go out and take photos, but I didn't know if Thor had cleared my being in Asgard at all yet, so I decided to wait. On an impulse, I pulled myself up onto the windowsill and sat with my denim-clad legs out in the open air. I leaned against the wooden frame and wondered when Thor would be-

"Careful. My fighting for your presence in Asgard will have been worth nothing if you fall and die from my window." I whipped round, one hand securing my position to ensure that I didn't actually fall, because that would be awkward, to say the least!

"So does that mean I'm allowed to stay?" I ask excitedly.

"Loki's fate will be decided in the morning. The court has withdrawn to deliberate, and I can do no more. But they have allowed your presence at least until then. I am to take you to your room, and a maid will bring you food and some night clothes." I swung myself off the windowsill and bounced across the room to Thor, snatching the holdall that I had discarded in the corner on the way.

"I won't need night clothes, I brought some with me, remember?" Thor frowned, and took the (rather large and heavy) bag from me. Such a gentleman. I smiled at him, suppressing the urge to bat my eyelashes as well (overkill), and gestured towards the door. "Lead the way, O Mighty God of Thunder." He looked at me quizzically. "Sorry, that was a bit weird...I'm like that sometimes...what I meant to say was...Lead the way, Thor." I grinned at him and he laughed.

"You are certainly something, Lily, and I am not entirely sure what that something is." He chuckled again, and I mock curtsied.

"I try my best." Thor opened the door to me, and we left.

**~X~**

The next morning, I was woken by the timid maid who had brought me food the previous evening. I stretched out on the luxurious bed and sat up, rubbing my hand across my face and pushing my disobedient fringe off my forehead.

"Hello, Miss. Thor sent me to tell you that Loki's trial is reconvening in an hour. I have brought you breakfast, and I will heat up some water for you to bathe in while you eat." I smiled at the young Asgardian.

"Thank you...?" I trailed off, biting my lip as I tried to remember her name.

"Alva, miss." **(AN: This is a genuine traditional Norwegian name. Check out who's doing their research!)** I smiled.

"Thanks, Alva. Does Thor want me to go to the trial?" I pulled the tray she had bought for me closer and began eating the strange but very nice fruits native to Asgard.

"No, Thor says you must stay here, but he will send for you when the trial is over. Odin has requested that Thor bring you to him after, as he would like to meet you." My eyebrows shot up in surprise. They honestly moved so fast I'm pretty sure I lost them.

"Odin? As in, King of Asgard Odin?" I asked in disbelief.

"That's right, miss. Thor said to dress nice." Dress nice? Does that mean, like, wear a dress, dress nice? I didn't bring a dress! I don't think I even own a dress...no wait, there was a dress I bought for cosplay at Comic Con, but that was years ago, it probably didn't fit me anymore...even if it did fit me, IT WAS ON EARTH, and I was on FRIGGING ASGARD! I put my worries to Alva, and she reassured me that as long as it was modest, it would be fine. Phew. I so totally did not just panic over nothing. Nope. As I finished my meal, she left, and returned with hot water to fill a bath behind a screen in the corner of the room. "Will there be anything else, miss?" Alva asked.

"No, that's fine, thank you. And Alva?" She paused on her way out of the room. "Call me Lily." She smiled, nodded her head and left. I slipped off the bed and over to my bag, hunting for some clothes that said classy, 'nice' and generally a sign of a trustworthy and lovely person. Most of my clothes just said mad, crazy lady, but in the end I settled for denim shorts with tights and my waistcoat over a plain black tee. I had a quick bath and got dressed, towelling my hair as dry as possible (oh, for the love of hairdryers...) and pulling the comb that Alva had left through it. I checked my appearance in the full length mirror and decided that I looked 'nice' enough.

I sat on the edge of the bed waiting for Alva or Thor, or _someone_ to appear and tell me what to do, or where to go. How exactly do you prepare to meet a King, and the King of another world at that? My fingers drummed nervously against my knees and my feet tapped against the wooden floor as I tried my best to stay calm and wait patiently. After all, patience is a virtue...a virtue I don't think I have... There was a knock at the door and I sat up straight.

"Come in?" I'm pretty sure my voice betrayed how worried I was. I stood up as the door swung open and Thor moved into the room. Somehow overnight, he must have grown. I swear he wasn't that big yesterday.

"Good morning. I hope that you're well." His voice must have deepened overnight too. Damn, he was hot.

"Yes, thank you. Alva was very kind. What was the result of the trial?" I asked as I walked over to meet him in the doorway.

"My father wishes to pass on that news. Are you ready?"

"Absolutely not." I laughed. "Let's go." He offered his arm to me and I slipped my hand into the crook of his elbow, feeling incredibly small (even smaller than usual, and I have never felt particularly tall!). He led me from the room and through a maze of corridors and passageways. I really hoped that someone would guide me back, I would definitely get lost otherwise. We stopped outside two large doors and **(AN: Just had to pause my writing because ANDREW SCOTT JUST WON A BAFTA!)** I tried to reign in my wild heartbeat. Thor looked down at me (emphasis on the _down_) and touched my shoulder. "You have nothing to be worried about. My father is a good man." I nodded, and allowed him to guide me into the hall.

There was a grey haired man sat on a simple chair at the other end of the room. Thor led me towards him, and I suddenly remembered something.

"Thor!" I hissed. He looked down at me out of the corner of his eye. "Do I bow or curtsy or something?" He smiled.

"My father will offer his hand. Take it, and kiss it as you curtsy. It makes him feel important, and if you want to make a good impression..."

"So to make a good impression, I just have to inflate his probably already huge ego?" I really hoped that my whispers couldn't carry over to wear the King was sitting...or if they could, that he was a little bit hard of hearing. We reached his chair, and I smiled. _Please let this go well_, I prayed inwardly...but what good is praying when you're in the company of gods anyway?

**~X~**

I collapsed in a heap on my bed. I was staying in Asgard! Odin had welcomed me as a guest, and promised that if Loki was willing to accept my company, I could stay for as long as I wanted. He did reiterate that if Loki refused me, there was little chance of me staying in Asgard, but I was a pretty charming person. My sparkling charisma could win anyone over!

Yeah. You keep telling yourself that, Lily.

In any case...In a couple of hours, I would go for my first visit with Loki. It would be supervised (Thor had insisted that he stood guard outside the cell for the first week as a minimum), but I was determined to make a good impression on the God of Mischief. Things were going my way for once. All things considered, I probably deserved it. I noticed Alva step round the open door, and sat up.

"Oh, hey Alva." She smiled.

"Hello mi- Lily." I grinned at her. "I hear that you are staying a while longer." I nodded. "I'm glad. You're nice to me. Not many people are." I blushed, looking down at my lap. "Lily?"

"Mmmm?"

"Please be careful around Loki. He's volatile, and flies up into a temper at the slightest thing. I think you're very brave for what you are doing, but I must ask that you don't put yourself at risk for the sake of a criminal." I sighed.

"I will be careful, Alva. I'm the epitome of careful, I promise. The moment he tries anything, I'm out of there, I swear. Thank you for your concern." She nodded.

"I only say this because I have been on the receiving end of Loki's temper before. It leaves its mark." She lifted her hair off her neck, and I could see a pale scar just below her ear, a couple of inches long. I gasped, my eyes wide in shock and horror.

"Did he do that to you?" My words were muffled by the hand pressed over my mouth. She didn't answer.

"Thor has requested that you lunch with him before your meeting with his brother. He'll come to fetch you in a bit." Now that I had got over the shock (well, sort of) of the physical abuse that Loki had awarded this maid (and possibly countless others), I bit my lip apprehensively. If I'm eating with Thor, will there actually be any food left for me? From what Jane told me, he has the appetite of a whole herd of horses (by which I mean, he could eat a whole herd). "If you need anything, just pop down the corridor. My room is the last on the left." She left and I lay back down on the bed, exhaling noisily. I'd been in Asgard for less than a day, and I could hardly say that it wasn't eventful.

**~X~**

I sat opposite Thor, slightly perturbed by the speed at which the god ate. In the time that it took me to eat my small bowl of pasta, he had gotten through five bowls of it (and they were biiiiiiig bowls), as well as half a loaf of bread and a handful of chicken wings. I pushed my bowl away from me, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Finished already?" I nodded.

"Not all of us have godlike appetites." I said faintly.

"You mean not all of us have appetites like mine?" I mmmed in response, taking an unnecessarily large mouthful of water to cover the awkward silence that followed. Thor finished his meal (was it a meal? Can it be called that?) and sat back in his chair, resting his hands on his stomach contentedly and exhaling noisily. My fingers drummed once again on the table and Thor eventually (after letting out a gigantic belch that made me throw up a little in my mouth) sat forward and looked at me. "Are you ready to meet my brother?"

"Umm. As ready as I'll ever be." I smiled tightly.

"Just remember. I will be right outside should anything go wrong. You will be in his cell alone, but if you call out, I will hear you and get you out of there straight away. He has not been told about you, and it is a near certainty that he will be hostile, but try not to aggravate him." I wanted to ask him about Alva, but I got the impression that the god didn't really know who she even was. Thor stood up. "Shall we go?" I wiped my mouth and rose to my feet. This was another thing I could not prepare for, so the best thing to do would be to jump in head first (admittedly, not an ideal approach, but hey! I'm unique, remember?). I pushed my misbehaving fringe out of my eyes and followed Thor down to the dungeons.

**Okay, hadn't originally planned to end it there, but would be too long if I added in their first meeting here. Loki will DEFINITELY be in the next chapter. Reviewers win a life-sized virtual Hiddleston, fully functioning when powered by an overactive imagination.**


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

**LOKI! Thought I was never gonna get to this bit...  
Also, WOW. Nearly 1000 hits. You guys are too kind.  
Pergjithshme: Thanks for your review! In response to your request: there will be some kissing, but I promise that it won't be graphic – the OC is based on one of my best friends, and that would just be **_**weird...**_**xx**

"Loki?" Thor walked ahead of me into Loki's cell. He gestured that I should wait outside, so wait I did. I heard a muttered conversation, unable to decipher any specific words, but I got the overall impression that Thor was being calm and Loki was acting like a PMS-ing teenager (which I suppose in some respects, he was). I leant against the wall, arms folded, trying (and probably failing) to look a lot more at ease than I really was. In my mind, it was hours before Thor exited the cell and nodded at me to go in, but in reality it was probably about five minutes.

"I have informed him that he has a visitor who could visit him frequently, providing he gives you a civil reception, but I have not told him who you are or that you are human. Good luck, Lily." He murmured and I smiled at him, quickly pulling my tights up (damn wrinkly knees) and walking in, looking as confident as I could.

Loki was stood by the barred window, glaring out the glass with his arms crossed across his chest, clearly sulking. I stopped in the middle of the room, standing awkwardly with my fingers picking at a loose thread in my shorts.

"Hello." I said simply, trying to cut the tension in the air (if there had been one available, I would have smash an ice cube on the table to 'break the ice', but I don't think they have freezers in Asgard). He spun around and in the same movement was only a few centimetres away from me. I recoiled slightly in shock, and a snake like grin spread across his face.

"A petty human girl. So this is who they send me for company. A sacrificial lamb. I'm insulted." His smirk faded and he stalked back to the window. I sighed. Fine then. If he was going to be snarky, then so was I. I paced around the room, running my hands over the soft fabric of the drapes around the bed and the strange texture of the walls.

"For a prison cell," I turned back to face him, "This certainly is very nice. Much nicer than any jail cells I've ever been in, but then again, you are a God, albeit an unruly one, and I'm too clever to have been arrested many times. Personally, I wouldn't mind staying here if I had the choice..." Loki glowered at me over his shoulder. "My name is Lily. I volunteered to be...a regular visitor to you, I suppose. I'll be spending time with you down here to stop you going insane with loneliness cos I'm a sucker for misunderstood people, or something like that. Everyone thinks I'm mad for doing so, but I've never denied my craziness... You could almost say I'm your cellmate...except I can leave whenever I like and you...well, ya know...can't." Loki flew across the room towards me and pinned me against the wall, his hand wrapped around my throat. I saw Thor moving urgently into the cell, but I flapped my hand at him to tell him to stay where he was for the minute.

"Know that I am superior to you, wench, even if I am currently imprisoned. You are a fool to mock me." He hissed, and I raised an eyebrow.

"I wasn't mocking you, O Mighty God of Mischief and Lies." My voice was dripping with sarcastic sincerity. "I was merely stating facts. Now, if you could be so kind as to let me go, or I'm sure your brother will ensure you do." Our eyes flicked in unison to the doorway were Thor was standing, clutching his hammer tightly. Loki scoffed, and stepped away. I massaged my throat, wincing. Ouch. "Honestly, Loki, you may as well be civil to me. I'm the only person who is willing to spend any amount of time with you, and I can easily leave and not come back. You hold nothing to gain by pinning me against the wall, because to be honest, right now, I'm not exactly scared of you."

"You should be, you mewling quim. I am a God."

"And I'm a blonde!" I retorted. "But out of the blonde and the God, who can leave this cell whenever they like?" Loki's lips tightened and he turned away. I scoffed. "Nice to know that we got off to such a good start..." I could've sworn I saw the corner of his mouth turn up in a smile, but it disappeared so quickly that it was impossible to be sure. I sighed and sat on the edge of the table, swinging a chair over to me to rest my feet on. "Loki. You can't scare me away, so you may as well accept my company without a fight. Surely you'd rather have a 'mewling quim' to talk to and insult who can throw those insults right back at you, than sit here on your own and just wallow in your own self pity." Loki considered me for a moment, and I was struck by the piercing quality of his eyes. The staring contest dragged out for several minutes, before (surprisingly), Loki sauntered across to the table and pulled out another chair, sitting on it in a very regal and godlike fashion.

"What will your company entail then, _Lily_?" His voice sounded slimy and cruel, but at least he wasn't pinning me against the wall anymore. On second thought...he is very good looking...no, stop it, Lily. Bad Lily...

"Oh, I don't know. Verbal sparring, most probably. Personality clashes too, I have no doubt. If you behave and all that, I'm sure I could probably persuade the powers that be to let me bring my phone or laptop down here, and we can watch movies or something – I have a bunch saved, I'm pretty sure you don't have WiFi." Loki looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language, which to him, I probably was. "Board games, do you have board games here? Basically, pretty much anything, as long as it is confined to this room. My role has hardly been defined, as I offered myself for the position. Oh, and I've been warned about how _charming_ you can be, so don't even try it." Loki grinned. I looked down at my hands. There was a silence that stretched on long enough to become awkward. I cleared my throat. "So...tell me about yourself." He quirked an eyebrow.

"Do you really think I'm going to tell a pathetic human girl about myself? Especially as we met not ten minutes ago? Now, Lily, I thought you were smart. But wait...you can't be that smart, you're here with me!" He chuckled, a dry laugh that can be directly transcribed as 'Ehehehehe'. I grinned.

"I am smart! Smart enough to persuade Thor, and Odin, and in fact, the entire council in Asgard to let me stay. You couldn't even escape imprisonment, yet I come from a completely different world and they welcomed me with open arms!" His eyes flashed dangerously. "So. Obviously I've read the file that S.H.I.E.L.D keeps on you, but that's kinda two dimensional. I hear you have daddy issues?"

"Daddy issues? Are you referring to the fact that Odin brought me up as his less-favoured son when in fact I was the heir of his greatest rival?" I nodded.

"Like I said. Daddy issues." I swear he growled. An honest-to-God growl. I bit back a giggle.

"How typical of a human female to trivialise matters that they cannot possibly understand."

"Oi! Sexist and...human-ist, much? That was uncalled for!" He laughed again. "Do you have shampoo here in Asgard?" I asked coyly.

"Shampoo? What is that?" I snickered. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it." I laughed again, eying his apparently greasy hair. I'm sure he used bucketloads of product and stuff (Garnier for Asgardians, tee hee), when he could have achieved a similar effect through not washing. I frowned. "Why are you wearing that?"

"Wearing what?"

"You know, that." I pointed at him in general. "All the armour and whatnot. It's not like you need it right now." Loki shook his head.

"I find your clothes just as strange as you mine, human." I looked down at my shorts, tights (which had gone wrinkly again, grrrr) and my waistcoat.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" I asked indignantly.

"Exactly." Loki leaned forward. "So, tell me about yourself." He echoed my words from before and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I asked first!" He tilted his head at me in a way that clearly said 'Bitch, _please_'. I sighed. "Tell you what. We'll take it in turns. I'll ask a question, then you ask a question. Fair play?"

"You are asking the God of Mischief and Lies whether something is 'fair play'?"

"Yes, I am. Problem?" Loki remained silent. "Good. Right, question number one. Favourite game as a child?" He blinked.

"Hide and seek with Thor. I'd cast an illusion of myself and hide elsewhere. Thor fell for it every time." He smirked and I grinned in response.

"That's pretty cool...can you show me the illusion thingy?" I found myself leaning forward in anticipation.

"Firstly, it's my turn for a question, and even if I agreed to your request, I could not perform the illusion here, my magic is bound by this cell." Loki sounded bitter and angry, and to be honest, I didn't blame him. Imagine having an amazing party trick like that, and not being able to do it!

"Fine. Go on then."

"My question for you...is why you followed us to Asgard?" I rolled my eyes.

"Isn't it obvious? Here, I could do some good, whereas on Earth I did jack shit. My whole plan revolved around you being imprisoned, actually. So I suppose I should thank you." I winked at him and he looked taken aback. I was finding this whole 'Be-Loki's-Companion-Friend-Thingy-And-Not-Get-Manipulated-Or-Anything-Bad' thing easier than I anticipated.

Although, I will admit, his dashing good looks were _very _distracting. I mean, those _cheekbones_! And the EYES, my God, the _eyes_. They were actually beautiful. He was ridiculously handsome in the untouchable way, and damn, it was irritating. I found myself wishing that he'd take off the armour so I could see if he was a) wearing a tight fitting shirt and b) how well that tight fitting shirt ya know...fitted him.

"Okay." I shook my head slightly to get rid of the bad, bad, BAD indecent thoughts about the God sitting opposite me. "My turn." And the rest of the meeting continued in a similar fashion.

**~X~**

Thor held the door open for me as I left. Loki didn't look after me or wave or anything normal like that, but what else can you expect from an angsty god with daddy issues? As I walked through the maze of corridors with Thor, I could practically smell the judgement radiating from him. I exhaled noisily.

"Go on, Thor. Say what you want to say, I've been expecting it ever since we left."

"You are being naive, Lily. After the first half an hour with Loki, you were far too at ease for a person who is supposed to be detached. I am not sure if it is a good idea if you visit him again. He throttled you!" I stopped and put a hand on Thor's (gigantic) arm.

"Look, there's nothing wrong with being friendly. Loki never committed any serious crimes against _me_ personally, so I'm just trying to be impartial to the whole 'Loki-is-a-bad-bad-person' thing, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to spend three minutes in his company. I've always enjoyed verbal sparring with someone with an equally sharp tongue as my own, and as for my being relaxed, you were right outside the whole time! He wouldn't have been able to do anything! I'm going back tomorrow." I held Thor's gaze until he looked away with an exasperated sigh.

"Do as you like, Lily. But remember – he is manipulative, and you will not realise he is controlling you until it is too late. I must go speak to the Tesseract's keepers to organise your work with it. I trust you can find your own way back to your room." It clearly wasn't a question, as he was walking in the opposite direction before he'd even finished speaking. I flipped his retreating back the finger and continued on my way, trying to remember where to go. I wish people could just trust my judgement. I will admit, I enjoyed spending time with Loki (and that DEFINITELY had nothing to do with his irritating good looks. Nope, nothing at all), but I wasn't a child! I could take care of myself, and I intended to do so.

Now, to find my way back to my room. On the way, I was going to have to work very hard not to turn around and return to Loki's cell. But I SWEAR that was just because of his good looks and not him getting in my mind.

I hope.

**Not entirely pleased with this chapter. Oh well. Next chapter will be a timey-wimey one (which means to say, there will be time jumps), so keep an eye out for that. Reviewers win my kitchen table. Come on, you can't say no to that! Don't just alert or favourite, REVIEW! It barely takes 10 seconds to leave a 'Good job' or a 'This sucks, doofus'! (Plus, people on FF have been mean to me, so love would be much appreciated ^_^ )**


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

**Bloody hell, chapter 5 already? Jeeeez... This was going to be a short story, and I haven't even got to the best bits yet! This chappie is a little on the short side, but mehhh.  
Note: I am including Lady Sigyn in this chapter, but don't worry, she's not a permanent fixture. Thanks to Me And My Alter Inc for their help with that (I owe you a pie...)  
This chapter is dedicated to TruffleHead for being an awesome person with an awesome name who was apparently 'vibrating' with excitement for this chapter!  
Also, OH MY GOD THANK YOU I HAVE OVER 30 REVIEWS AND OVER 1500 HITS ON A STORY THAT I POSTED A WEEK AGO AND ONLY HAS FOUR CHAPTERS YOU ARE AMAZING AND I LOVE YOU ALL AND MWAH.**

The next day I returned to Loki's cell. And the next. And the next. After a week, Thor agreed to only pick me up and drop me off, trusting that leaving another guard in his place would be adequate protection for me. After three weeks, that guard left, and there was only a button on the wall that would trigger an alarm in case Loki tried anything. We argued on an almost daily basis, but almost never seriously – our verbal sparring battles were quite frankly epic (in the sense of both awesomeness and scale). We 'debated' everything from why he shouldn't bother with his armour every day, to why the human race sucked and even which was the correct pronunciation of 'scone' (it is SCONE, not SCOOOOWWWWEEENNNNN). We found ourselves laughing together, perfectly at ease with each other, before realising what we were doing and stopping abruptly, an awkward silence hanging in the air in the aftermath. Unintentionally, I became closer to Loki than I had to anyone since my parents died, and I often lay awake at night wondering whether I was being foolish; if I'd allowed him to manipulate my mind into liking him, and subsequently compromised myself. In time, I found myself caring less and less about whether he was controlling me, because I was so happy when I was with him.

In my spare time (which, as I only spent a few hours with Loki each day, was plentiful), I worked with the Asgardian technicians on the Tesseract, seeing if it was possible to use it as an energy source in Asgard where it had failed on Earth. We made much quicker progress than S.H.I.E.L.D ever had, but then again, here on Asgard, scientists were magicians and vice versa. It wasn't long before we had hooked it up to the alarm in Loki's cell – if I hit the button, a siren would go off both in the Tesseract's lab and the guards' headquarters, powered solely by the Tesseract. While we worked on it, I would bring my phone and laptop with me, and simply by being in the same vicinity as the cube, they charged up real fast. The arrangement suited me very well, and I was hoping that soon, we would be able to use the Tesseract to increase my laptop/phone's signal range so I could access the internet from Earth. I was seriously dying without my social networking.

Four weeks after I arrived in Asgard, I was pleading with Thor, who was being stubborn and grumpy.

"Please? Pleeeaaaaassssseeeeeee? It's just something to _doooooo_, I'm getting so _boooorrrreeeeddddd_ of just sitting around talking the whole time! Besides, I won't let him talk while we watch stuff, so it even minimises the possibility of him getting inside my head, which you always seem so worried about! I won't even let him touch it!" Thor frowned at me.

"Why do you want to take your...lap-top...with you anyway?"

"Because I have some TV shows saved on there, and we can watch them! It can hardly cause any harm!" I pouted at him. Over the past month, Thor and I had grown closer as well, with him becoming pretty much the big brother I never had. He was certainly acting like a big brother now – annoying, and not letting me have my way. He sighed.

"Fine. But if it gives him any ideas..."

"Thor, we'll be watching Sherlock. Or Doctor Who. Or The Walking Dead. He can hardly get any _ideas_, unless he decides that, I don't know, biting someone's face off is a good plan or something." I grabbed his shoulder to bring him down closer to my height so I could kiss him on the cheek. "Thanks Thor!" I grabbed my laptop bag and headed off towards Loki's cell.

**~X~**

"What are you doing?" Loki sounded bored, he mistrustfully eyeing my laptop as I opened and unlocked it.

"I am..." I plugged in my memory stick with lots of memory (and therefore lots of programmes and movies) and opened the folder. "...setting up my laptop so we can watch something." He raised an eyebrow. He was sprawled languidly across his bed; ankles crossed, arms behind his head, still in his ridiculous bloody body armour. He did look very good...dammit, not again! I put my hands on my hips and looked at him sternly. "Up. Sit here." I pointed at one of the chairs next under the table.

"Make me." Loki snapped back.

"Don't tempt me, trouble." I warned. He smirked, but did as I asked – he had learnt the hard way that if he didn't get off his bed when I told him too, I would flip his mattress so he ended up on the floor anyway (that had been another time I'd been pinned to the wall...worth it though, his face was priceless!). I scrolled through my folders as he sat on the chair. "I'm giving you the choice, as I really don't mind... Sherlock, Doctor Who or The Walking Dead?" He frowned.

"What?"

"Just choose!"

"The first one then." I grinned.

"Brilliant choice." I clicked on the Sherlock folder and selected the first episode (I ripped it from the DVD, I didn't illegally download _anything_...much). I sat on the chair next to him and dragged the table closer with a screech of wood on flooring that made Loki wince. "Now, shut up and watch." I grinned as he leant forwards slightly, intrigued. Sherlock would be even more _mysterious_ to Loki as he didn't even know how to work a mobile phone.

That was the first time Loki and I watched 'TV' together.

**~X~**

A couple of days later, I made my way down on Loki's cell, trying to ignore the pounding headache that made me feel like there was a wrecking ball inside my brain. I unlocked the cell door and walked in, rubbing my temples. Loki was sat at the table, playing some sort of card game against himself. I sat down next to him and studied the cards as he finished his game. Before, I had tried to ask questions, and he didn't react well to it, so now I just stayed quiet and waited. I was debating asking him to teach me how to play, but I doubted that he would be a very patient teacher... 'So what does this one mean?' 'DO NOT PATRONISE ME CHILD, I AM A GOD, YOU LITTLE IDIOT!'.

He sat back and sighed, shaking his head slightly.

"Didn't you win?" I asked lightly. He gave me a disparaging look and I rolled my eyes. He was in one of his _moods_. They probably coincided with his man-period...then again, he had a day like this pretty much every week, and I didn't think men got their man-periods so often, so maybe he was just a stroppy person by nature.

"Where is the laptop?" Loki snapped. After watching the first episode of Sherlock, Loki had become hooked – we finished the first series yesterday, and he was desperate to know the result of the pool scene (I'm guessing he felt some sort of affiliation with Moriarty). I shook my head.

"The battery's dead, I'll charge it up when I go to the lab later and we can watch it tomorrow." He growled lowly, and I moved my chair away from him slightly, not trying to hide the movement. Sometimes, being very unsubtle was the only way to get through to him. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I raised my eyebrow at him. "Why is it that some days you are in such a foul mood, when others you are fine?" I asked gently, not wanting to provoke him (my head hurt enough as it was, I didn't need him pinning me against the wall today, much as the twisted part of my mind enjoyed it). He stood up and stalked over to the window. I followed, standing a few metres away from him as he stared out of the bars.

"My...the Lady Sigyn visits me sometimes. She aggravates me." I tentatively took a step closer to him.

"Who's that?" His head turned to me, and he studied me intensely. I felt like I was about to be melted or something, it was seriously intimidating.

"My wife." I felt like someone had sucker punched me in the gut. He was married? What? What? How? What?

"I didn't know you were married." My voice was very faint.

"There is much you do not know about me, child." My eyes narrowed – it really annoyed me when he called me 'child'. Yeah, sure, maybe he was like, 29837298472 years old, but still, I was not a child! "Lady Sigyn is trying to arrange for our marriage to be annulled. She is 'ashamed' of me, apparently, and does not wish to be tied down while I am imprisoned. Fenrir and Vali are standing with her, though they have not been to see me." There was a buzzing in my ears.

"Fenrir and Vali?"

"My children." Oh sweet Jesus. Did I know him at all?

"So...she's trying to divorce you?" He nodded once.

"She has the backing of the courts, and is visiting me again next week to finalise it." His hands clenched into fists. "You may wish to refrain from visiting me in a week's time." I blinked at his warning. I cleared my throat.

"I'm sorry." My voice sounded strange to me...as if it was travelling through a long tunnel to reach my ears. Loki looked at me sharply as I swayed on my feet, my hand reaching up to press to my forehead but missing completely. My vision blurred, bright lights spotting in my eyes. "I don't feel so good..." I blinked fiercely. I saw Loki moving towards me, and I could swear that there was something like concern on his face. Before I could look twice, everything went black.

**CLIFFHANGER! Bahahahahaha I'm evil. Reviewers win...my hand in marriage.  
WILL NOT BE ABLE TO POST ON SUNDAY AS I AM GOING TO BE AT COLLECTORMANIA IN MILTON KEYNES MEETING LOUISE BREALEY WHO PLAYS MOLLY HOOPER IN SHERLOCK WITH JEN AND AMBER ALSKHDLAKSDHASJDAS**


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

**This chapter has events. Very eventful. And another cliffhanger, god, I love those.  
I apologise in advance for the length of this AN, but I has things to say.**

**Firstly, I met Louise Brealey (who plays Molly Hooper, the pathologist in Sherlock) yesterday. SHE IS SO LOVELY! She took the time to actually talk to us, and she was flattered by the bag of Quavers we gave her rather than freaked out (we wrote 'You Do Count' on them, Sherlockians will get the reference). Overall, despite the Artic conditions, and the fact that we were told we couldn't wear our FREE HUGS shirts and the 5am wake up call, it was a very good day.**

**Secondly, this story is now OFFICIALLY my most popular – although it hasn't had the most hits, it has more alerts than any of my others! Here's a big KISS to each and every person who is reading this. MWAH! KUDOS! Also, you may want to follow me on Tumblr if you have it, I've been known to post small snippets from chapters as I write them... s0changeable.**

**Okay, story now. Where were we?**

I could hear hushed, angry voices. There was Loki's, quiet but intense. A female's voice interspersed his words, and she sounded shrill and annoyed. A few phrases floated over to me.

"You clearly don't need me anymore..."

"I did not ask for her company, Sigyn..."

"We are over, Loki..."

The murmurs made my head hurt, so I sank gladly back into the blackness.

**~X~**

I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to move. My head was still pounding, my mouth tasted like someone had died in it and my entire body felt as heavy as a house. I was wonderfully comfortable, covered in blankets that were soft and warm, on a bed that felt like a goddamn cloud. It couldn't last though. Grudgingly, I opened my eyes, blinking against the bright light that blinded me. I couldn't work out where I was...certainly not on Earth, and not in my room on Asgard either.

"You're awake." A soft voice to my left jerked me from my reverie, and as I twisted my head round, I realised where I was.

Still in Loki's room. More specifically, I was in his bed.

Hey! I was in the God of Mischief's bed!

Wait...why was I in Loki's bed? What? I tried to speak, but found that only a small squeak came from my mouth. Loki chuckled.

"Here." He handed me a glass of water and I accepted, drinking until I was able to form words.

"What happened?" Loki took the glass from my shaking hand and set it down on the table next to his pillow.

"You've caught a fever. It's a fever that affects Asgardians only once, usually as children, but you contracted it as you had never been exposed to it before. As you are older, it affected you worse. You've been asleep for three days." I looked at him properly, noting the shadows under his eyes. I was in his bed...which meant that he probably hadn't slept. I then noticed something even more astonishing.

"You're not wearing your armour!" I exclaimed, and it was true. He was wearing a simple black shirt over his billowing green trousers, and _damn_ did he look good in it! For the first time, I could truly appreciate how..._defined_...he was. He was muscley in completely the opposite way to Thor, but he was _hot_. He laughed again.

"Brilliant observation, Lily." I blinked. Was that an _intentional_ Sherlock quote, or was I jumping to conclusions? I struggled to sit myself up and he reached over to help me, propping me up on a multitude of pillows, his hands leaving icy trails over my back. I shivered.

"Why am I here? Why wasn't I taken back to my room or something?" Loki raised a dark eyebrow at me.

"You had to be kept in isolation, and my _beloved _brother decided that it was easier to keep you here than risk exposing others to the fever. I suppose he thought it would be a good test for me." He snorted.

"Have you not slept then?" I asked, unable to keep the concern out of my voice. The look he then gave me told me that he had noticed.

"I have dozed in this chair. Asides from that, no, I haven't. Why? Does it bother you?" A really strong urge to slap the smirk right off his face overcame me then, and my fists clenched.

"Actually, yes." I met his gaze challengingly. "Surprisingly, I don't like robbing other people of their sleep, even if they are arrogant gits like yourself, because I am a _nice person_." We glared at each other for several minutes (well, he glared, and I tried to look angry while I noticed how pretty his eyes were) before Thor arrived.

"Lily! You have woken!" Loki sighed as he stood up to make way for his mountain of a brother. Thor ignored him as he stood by the side of...my? Loki's? _The_ bed, and I had to suppress a grin as Loki mockingly did an elaborate bow behind his brother. Thor leaned down and kissed my cheek, and my internal monologue sounded like this:

_Ahahaha, look at Loki, he is silly, woah, okay, there is a Thor, Thor is coming closer, AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH Thor is kissing me, he is very hot, and Loki is standing behind him and smirking, and he is very hot too...TOO MANY GOOD LOOKING PEOPLE, I CANNOT, sexy overload, mission abort, abort, _ABORT!

Or something similar at least.

"I'm alright." I smiled at him and shot Loki a look that very clearly said _behave, or else_. He rested a hand on my shoulder.

"You gave us quite a scare, Lily. I trust that you intend to take a few days off when you are well enough to get up?" I rolled my eyes.

"Thor, I could get up now if I could be bothered. I've already spent three days in bed!" He sighed.

"Recovery is very important, Lily, I would really recommend that..." I glared disapprovingly at Loki who was doing over the top impersonations of Thor behind his back, trying not to giggle. "...and you're not listening to a word I say because my brother is doing impersonations again, isn't he?" I grinned sheepishly as Thor turned around and batted Loki across the side of his head. "I will send Alva down to help you back to your room this evening." I stopped Thor by grabbing his hand.

"Don't send Alva." He looked at me quizzically and I shot a look at Loki. "She'll tell you why. I'll be fine getting there on my own." Thor still looked confused, but nodded.

"When Loki's food is brought to him, I will instruct the kitchen staff to send your meal too." I nodded, and waved as he left the room. I slumped back on the pillow, and Loki sank back down onto the chair.

"You know, Loki, for someone who supposedly couldn't give a damn about me, you seemed pretty frazzled when I woke up. And then you were making me laugh on purpose while Thor was here." I looked at him accusingly. He smiled, the same snake-like smile that had lit his face up on the first day we met...a smile that I hadn't seen in several weeks. It was genuine, yes, but it was also cruel.

"Do not flatter yourself into thinking that I care about you, human." He said lightly, and I flipped him the finger.

"Grrrr is what I say to you. I say grrrr." I yawned. I tilted my head sideways. "You know, Loki, your bed really is very comfortable. Maybe I should pass out down here more often if this is the result." He glowered at me. "Awwwwh, what's up? Jealous?"

"Rather annoyed that you have..._stolen..._my bed actually. You will vacate it tonight, I assure you." I raised an eyebrow.

"Make me." I mocked.

"Don't tempt me, wench." The conversation was a strange role-reversal of our usual, and I couldn't help but smile. To my surprise, he returned the smile, and I found myself thinking that maybe he did care slightly more than he let on.

A week later, I returned to Loki's cell for the first time since I had passed out down there. On Thor's insistence, I had not been to visit him, and instead had spent the extra time working on the Tesseract with the technicians. I had managed to connect to the internet yesterday, albeit briefly, so our progress was very good. Thor had suggested a journey back to Earth to find something else to test the Tesseract on. I suggested a fridge. Or a hairdryer.

I hadn't got my laptop with me today (which Loki would be annoyed about), but my phone was in my pocket, so I hoped to placate him with music or games or something. When I reached the cell door, it was already ajar. I looked round it in alarm, and saw Loki signing something while a tall, beautiful woman stood behind him, tapping her foot impatiently. The Lady Sigyn. _The divorce papers, _I realised. I suddenly remembered the conversation I had overheard in the middle of my fever, and realised that _I_ had been a topic of one of their (undoubtedly) numerous arguments. I walked back round the corner, hiding behind another door until I was sure that she had left. That could make for an awkward encounter. Loki's warning to not visit him today was very clear in my mind, but I couldn't bring myself to leave him in pain. That should have set alarm bells ringing in my brain, but for some reason, it didn't.

I edged into his cell after Lady Sigyn had gone, and stood by the wall. He was leaning over the table, bracing himself against it, his knuckles white with tension. I cleared my throat, causing his head to whip round and I recoiled in shock. His entire head was blue, his eyes were red, and he looked _furious_. So this was what he looked like as a frost giant. He was menacing, and even here where his magic was bound, I knew that he would not find it difficult to cause me pain. He growled at me, and I backed away from him as he stalked towards me.

"Loki? Um...calm down, huh? I'm sure that you love to get all... ya know, _blue,_ but for once, you are actually scaring me and I don't want to have to sound the alarm..." I felt my back hit a wall as he stopped right in front of me, his eyes narrowed. "Loki... I know you're angry, but please don't take it out of me...take it out on the wall, or throw something across the room. Both can be more easily replaced than I can." My heaving chest was within millimetres of touching his breastplate, and I was painfully aware of the fact. Even as a terrifying frost giant, he was still strangely beautiful.

"I _told_ you not to come today." His voice was practically a hiss and I tried to make myself as small as possible.

"I know...I haven't been to see you in a week, and I plain forgot, Loki. I would leave now, but a) I don't think you'll let me, and b) even if you did, I don't really want to. The reason I visit you is so you have someone to talk to, and you _need_ to talk about this." I smiled hesitantly at him. His face contorted in a snarl and he punched the wall right next to my head, eliciting a small scream from me. I felt small grains of stone rain down on my shoulder and I stared at him in horror and, if I'm honest, terror. He studied my face, breathing heavily, and his ice cold breath washed over my face, making me shiver. The silence lasted for several minutes before his face began to soften. He stepped away from me and I exhaled, slumping against the wall in relief. That was too close. I opened my mouth to try and pacify him further, idly wondering whether Angry Birds would help.

Suddenly his hand shot out and slapped me, my face snapping to the side, the crack echoing through the room. He walked back to the window, his skin returning to its usual hue. My breath caught in my throat and I pressed my palm to my smarting cheek, trying to hold back the sob that was threatening to rip through my chest. It didn't work, and I felt a tear streak down my cheek as I cried quietly. Loki turned back to me and looked at me in shock, as if he didn't realise what he had done. I looked right back at him, not trying to hide my tears. He crossed the room towards me, and I couldn't help but shy away from him, shrinking against the wall.

"I..." He seemed lost for words. I brushed my fringe off my face and met his gaze. "I'm sorry." I frowned. "I should not have taken my anger out on you. You are already kinder to me than I deserve, and yet the way I just treated you... it was wrong. The Lady Sigyn was right to annul our marriage, I know, yet I am still angry for its ending. Forgive me." I felt my heart squeeze in sympathy for him.

"If you _ever_ hit me again, I swear I will leave and not come back." He nodded, and when his gaze returned to mine, his eyes were shining with tears. My eyebrows shot up, and once again, I was pretty sure that I lost them.

"I will miss her." Loki admitted. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around his middle and rested my head on his goddamn breastplate, sighing as I hugged him. He stiffened, but eventually, to my surprise, returned my embrace.

"Damn you, dude. Seriously. You are the biggest arsehole I have ever met." I murmured against his chest and he rested his chin on top of my head.

"I know." He answered softly, and I felt an icy cold tear drop onto my hair.

**~X~**

Two weeks after the _incident_, as we had taken to calling it, I woke (in my own bed) to sunlight streaming through my curtains, turning my eyelids a strange shade of pink. That's not right, I had closed those curtains last night before I slept...I opened my eyes, confused, to find Thor standing at the foot of my bed, clutching Mjölnir (which is a stupid name for a hammer, by the way) tightly. I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"What's up, Thor?" My voice was slightly slurred with sleep.

"Lily, you did not leave your room last night, did you?" I shook my head, bewildered. "Can anyone vouch for that?"

"Umm, I suppose Alva could tell you that she didn't hear me moving or anything...why, what's wrong?" Thor's face was grave, far more so than I had ever seen it before.

"Loki has escaped, and the court believes you assisted him. There are guards on their way to arrest you as his accomplice." I stared at the God of Thunder in horror as my world (metaphorically) imploded.

**Reviewers win...hmmmm...a hug. That's right, review and I will hug you. For reals.  
PS. You can now upload a cover image for stories. I've put one in from Google images, but if anyone with mad editing skills wants to make me one, I'd love you forever ^_^**


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

**Hahaha, left you on a cliffhanger again, didn't I? I must be like, the goddess of Mischief or something...  
Lokily is approaching guys...credit for the shipper name goes to BeautifulButBrokenxx (the best I could come up with were Loli and Liky, neither of which sound exactly T rated).  
Also, check out the beautiful cover dragonrain618 made for this story! I can't use it on the site, because it's the wrong shape, but all of you need to go check it out! Link on my profile page!**

"Hurry Lily. You must dress. I can take you back to Earth before the guards arrive." Thor paced back to the door and looked out at the (presumably) empty corridor. I still couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. Loki had escaped? How? _Why_? It's not like his life here was _that_ bad – he had company, and nice quarters, and food, and...well, he had _me_. I thought that I'd meant at least something to him, but clearly I was wrong. If he'd cared for me at all, he either wouldn't have left, or he would have left behind some sort of evidence that showed I was not connected to his flight. I realised that Thor was collecting my belonging from around the room and packing them into my bag and I swung my feet out of bed, rushing over to stop him.

"What are you doing?"

"You must leave, Lily. The court feel vulnerable; they need someone to blame and you are the ideal scapegoat." I snatched the bag from his hands.

"What, so I'm just going to run away? Doesn't that make me look guilty?"

"It makes you _safe_, and that is what is important." Thor studied me earnestly, and I shook my head.

"What is important is finding Loki. If I run away, I can never come back here. I'd much rather prove my innocence, and then _help_. That's what I came here to do in the first place and I intend to, even if it's more problematic than I foresaw." I dropped the bag and turned to the door as heavily armed guards burst in, pointing their sharp sticks at me again (and once again, their buff-ness was incredibly distracting. Goddammit, hormones!). I raised my hands in surrender above my head, and didn't resist as they tied my wrists behind my back and manhandled me from the room.

**~X~**

For the first time, I was in the presence of the Asgardian court. I had never seen people who looked so...resplendent, yet entirely unhappy at the same time. I was forced to my knees in front of them, and I suddenly felt self conscious about my cow print pyjamas. A particularly fat man leaned forwards and studied me with small, watery eyes.

"Do you deny your involvement in Loki's escape?" His voice was little more than a rasp, and it was one of the most menacing things I'd ever heard.

"Yes, I do, sir." I spoke clearly and politely, thinking that there was no harm in sucking up.

"In the past two weeks, you are the only person to have visited Loki. In the time since his imprisonment, only you, Thor and Lady Sif have spent any amount of time with him. We have already cleared Lady Sif and Thor of any involvement, which leaves you. I ask you again...do you deny that you helped Loki?" I felt so _small_, like I was an ant, and he was the boot.

"I do, sir. I was not aware of Loki's plans to escape, neither did I assist him with them. This comes as much of a shock to me as I'm sure it did to you, sir." The fat man stood up and walked towards me. I didn't look at him directly, instead favouring a rather interesting piece of floor in front of me. Why, that was a very pretty pattern in the..stone...

"I was against your continued attendance here, did you know? I knew something like this would happen." The man spoke seemingly to himself, but I became aware that he was directing his speech towards me when he grabbed my chin and pulled it up, forcing me to rise to my feet.

"Sir, I assure you, I had nothing to do with it. Why would I help him escape when he's the reason I was allowed on Asgard in the first place?" My voice was muffled due to my face being squashed by the man's pudgy fingers, and Thor came and stood by my side.

"Folkvardr, Lily is innocent until proved guilty. I ask that you do not lay hands on her until a verdict has been reached." Thor rested his hand on Folkvardr's wrist **(AN: Again with the Norse name research! This name means 'Guardian of the People', apparently...thought it was kinda appropriate for his position)**, and I could see the tense tendons in the god's forearm. Folkvardr let go of my face and stalked back to his seat, leaving me standing with Thor to my left and a very sore face. That was going to leave bruises...

"I think the verdict is very clear, Thor. It is impossible for Loki to have escaped without help, and who else was there to help him?" Thor folded his arms.

"Several servants visited him daily. Have you questioned them?" Folkvardr hesitated. "What about the guards on regular patrols down in the dungeons, have they been questioned?" Folkvardr suddenly became very interested in his nails. "I thought not. Lily has nothing to gain from Loki's flight. May I suggest that you focus your efforts on finding someone with a plausible reason to want Loki free?" I looked up at Thor gratefully, and he shot me a small, comforting smile.

"We have people speaking to people, but as of yet, there is no one. Ladies and gentlemen of the court, we must reach a verdict on Miss..."

"Girling." Thor interjected, and I wondered where he had heard my surname – I don't remember ever telling him.

"Yes, well, we must find her either guilty or innocent." Folkvardr addressed the court irritably. I coughed and he turned back to me, his face a mask.

"Do I not get the chance to offer my case, sir? I presume that you all discussed my apparently obvious guilt before I arrived, but on Earth, the defendant is allowed to..._defend_ themselves too." Folkvardr's face turned a peculiar shade of puce.

"You are not on Midgard, girl. You cannot dictate how the court system operates in a world where you do not belong." He hissed, and I shrank back and hid behind Thor slightly.

"Actually, Folkvardr, it is tradition for the person being tried to defend themselves." An older woman (who looked thoroughly bored) spoke lazily and I looked around Thor's arm at her. She winked at me, and I couldn't stop the grin spreading across my face. Clearly, I wasn't the only one who didn't really like this Folkvardr character. He sighed.

"Very well. Make it quick, girl, we have other things to be doing." I rolled my eyes. Like what? Eating pie? Filing your nails? Practising your angry face in the mirror? Trying to look even more like some sort of fat chipmunk?

"As Thor already said, I have nothing to gain by Loki's escape. I'm fully prepared to help your forces in finding him and returning him to jail, and I can work with the technicians to help the Tesseract connect to S.H.I.E.L.D communication systems and inform them that Loki is on the loose. I didn't leave my room last night, I never knowingly gave Loki any ideas or help in escaping, and if I'm honest, there really are better things you could be doing with your time than trying to find an innocent girl guilty. Wouldn't it be more productive to track Loki down?" I squirmed under their gaze. I hated being put on the spot. "I give you my word that Loki's escape had nothing to do with me, unless he got so annoyed of my company that he had to run away or something. My word is all I have to offer." A prolonged silence followed the end of my little speech, and I looked uncertainly up at Thor. He was watching the court, who all seemed to be concentrating very hard on something that I could not see. He leaned down to my height and put his mouth to my ear.

"The courts' minds are connected. They are currently debating your fate. If they find you guilty, I can challenge it, but their decision is usually final, except in special cases." I bit my lip, clenching my hands into fists to stop them shaking. He rested a hand on my shoulder and returned his attention to the court. Folkvardr suddenly stepped forward.

"All those who find Lily Girling guilty of helping Loki Laufeyson, ashamed God of Mischief and Lies, born of Jotunheim, escape from his imprisonment...raise your hand." The fat man raised his large arm, and several people followed suit. There were around 40 people in the room. I couldn't tell how many raised their hands, but it looked to be around half. My breathing was speeding up rapidly as I realised that they could pretty much do whatever they saw fit to me. Folkvardr clearly counted the hands raised because he continued speaking. "Those who are abstaining from the vote..." Four people stood and left, and I followed them nervously with my eyes. "Those who find Lily Girling innocent..." More people raised their hands, and the old woman who had spoken out for me looked defiant as she strained her fingers towards the ceiling. Thor raised his hand too, and Fatty-Chipmunk narrowed his eyes at him. I couldn't read Folkvardr's face as he counted. His expression froze. "22 in favour of guilt...23 in favour of innocence. Cleared." Thor clapped me on the shoulder and I blinked. I was...cleared? It was over? All the breath rushed out of me and I suddenly felt slightly weak at the knees. I grapsed Thor's arm for support and nodded.

"Thank you." I wheezed, and I allowed him to lead me from the room. We stopped outside the door and Thor looked at me.

"Are you okay? You look like you are about to faint..." His voice was coloured with concern.

"I'm fine. I'm innocent!" I grinned and flung my arms around Thor's neck. He lightly wrapped his arms around my waist.

"There is no need to sound so surprised." He chuckled and I pulled away from his embrace.

"So what happens now?" I asked as we started walking again.

"You have some breakfast and get dressed, then we meet in the Tesseract room to contact S.H.I.E.L.D." I nodded, and he kissed my forehead before going in the opposite direction. I looked around me furtively, checking that I was alone, before jumping in glee and punching the air. I danced back to my room, revelling in my victory. When I reached my door, I abruptly remembered that Loki was gone, and sobered up pretty quick.

Is it wrong that I wanted to find him, not because of the damage he may cause but because I would miss him?

I pushed open my door and walked over to my bed, collapsing across the duvet face first. I felt a crinkle under my belly and wriggled to grab the piece of paper that I was lying on. It was addressed to me in an unfamiliar script that I somehow instantly knew was Loki's. I sat up, unfolding the paper with shaking hands. Inside, there were only a couple of lines written.

_I hope that the attempts to find me prove futile until it is too late. I also hope that the court do not find you guilty of helping me, so that you may get the chance to see my work – you do not know me, and it was foolish of you to befriend me. I intend for you, along with the rest of your people and the people of Asgard to see my true nature._

The note wasn't signed, and I suddenly lost my appetite. I threw on some clothes and pulled my hair back into a loose ponytail before rushing down to the lab to show the note to Thor. Loki was planning something big, and it was at least partly to punish me for wanting to trust him.

**Reviewers win the Queen's funny yet awesome hat from the Jubilee pageant the other day. Did you know that if I get just 8 reviews on this chapter, Jailbait will be my most reviewed story? Make it happen for me, guys?**


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

**Quite a few people have commented on my speedy updates. I have a couple of things to say about this -  
1) This is completely out of character for me. Usually the gaps between my updates are measured in months rather than days.  
2) I'm updating a lot because on Monday I have a Maths exam and an RE exam, on Friday I have History and the following Tuesday I have Sociology. I need to revise. Like, a lot. So I'm getting as much as I can posted before I need to actually revise.  
So basically – don't expect such frequent updates from now onwards.  
Also, thank you to the LOVELY BeautifulButBrokenxx who is responsible for the awesome cover on this story! LOVE IT!**

When I entered the sterile white lab, Thor was standing with Heinrikr, Koli and Freyja **(AN: More freaking Norse name research! In case you couldn't work it out...male, male, female)** around the Tesseract, deep in conversation. Freyja saw me over Kol's shoulder (he was very tall, and she was taller) and beckoned me. I crossed the room and stood next to Thor. They were clearly discussing their plan of action. I tapped his arm and handed him the note. He read it quickly before passing it on to the others. While they read, I spoke.

"He says that he wants to show _my_ people as well as the people of Asgard. That means he's heading to Earth, _and_ attacking here." Thor sighed, and nodded.

"That is a logical conclusion, and makes contacting S.H. .D imperative. How quickly can you connect to their mainframe?" He addressed the question to me, but Heinrikr answered.

"It'll take anywhere between two and five hours to build a stable connection to Midgard's internet, trusting that the Tesseract plays nicely. How long will it take you to hack their mainframe from the internet, Lily?"

"If their security system hasn't been changed since I last accessed it, then it'll take a matter of minutes – I can simply run the same programme. If Stark has got to it, or it's been changed...probably around half an hour." Thor nodded.

"When you are connected to the internet, find me, so that when you access S.H.I.E.L.D I may speak to them. I must go speak to my father about Asgard's defence. If Loki is planning to attack, we must be ready." Thor left the room, and I turned to the others.

"Right then." I flexed my fingers and sat down at my laptop's desk, hitting the power button and grinning up at the technicians who surrounded me. "Let's get cracking."

**~X~**

"Dammit!" I pushed my chair away from the desk and walked over to the plinth that the Tesseract stood upon, twinkling like a disobedient star. "You," I pointed at the cube, "need to freaking well _behave_. You are a limitless power source, so don't try to act like it's too hard for you to connect to the freaking internet. We've been working at this for _four hours_, my ass has gone to sleep, I'm really hungry and yet you STILL DON'T COOPERATE! For crying out loud, just be _nice_." I glared at the Tesseract and flung myself onto my chair. I turned back to the laptop and opened the app I had designed for the cube. Koli came over and stood behind me, leaning over my shoulder.

"I maximised the Tesseract's range as best I could, but the bloody thing is being PMS-y." I nodded at him, smiling at his language. My mannerisms had certainly rubbed off on him during my time in the lab.

"I just told her off, so she's probably in a mood now." I rubbed my hand across my face and studied my screen. "We've found a wireless network, but she _refuses_ to connect." I raised my voice. "Hey, Tessie! Any time soon would be nice!" Suddenly, the internet connected, the passcode box flashing up and disappearing just as quickly as my programme made short work of it. "Thanks, sweetheart!" I called, and gave Koli thumbs up. I looked round the room.

"Where did Freyja and Heinrikr go?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "Ewwwwww! Seriously? He's like, twice her age and half her height!" Koli shrugged.

"I'll go knock on their door and then go find Thor, yes?" I nodded and he gave me a quick hug before he left. Koli was incredibly friendly, but it had taken him a while to get used to having me around – he was basically the Asgardian equivalent of an introverted geek. I decided to take advantage of the empty room by quickly logging on to Tumblr and Twitter, wanting to catch up with the news on Earth. I was lost in my scrolling when Thor and Koli returned, followed by Freyka and Heinrikr, who appeared to be very sheepish (and thoroughly shagged, if I might add). I closed the tabs and opened a fresh browser at the same time, trying to look innocent. I started navigating my way to S.H.I.E.L.D's interface as Thor pulled up a chair next to me. He leant over my shoulder and studied the screen, frowning in a bemused way.

"A bit foreign to you, eh Thor?" I grinned as I clicked onto the S.H.I.E.L.D logo.

"It is entirely other-worldly." I elbowed him in the ribs as he chuckled, attempting to cover my wince as my elbow came into contact with heavy armour on rock-solid muscle. Lines of code whizzed across my screen and I scanned them as they appeared.

"Looks like S.H.I.E.L.D have altered their security, but only slightly. Should be accessing in, ooooh...ten minutes?" Thor nodded and I got to work.

**~X~**

Fifteen minutes later, I sat back as the S.H.I.E.L.D mainframe appeared before my eyes. I glanced over their newsfeed, absorbing information and disregarding what was unimportant.

"It doesn't look as though they've picked up any traces of Loki yet. They're investigating some sort of energy flare in England, but it's not high on their list of priorities. Clint Barton is with Nastasha Romanoff in, uhhhh...Ukraine on some mission currently, Stark is busy being a philanthropist, Steve Rodgers is in the gym and Bruce Banner is...at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, seems like he's working with them on gamma radiation again." Thor nodded. "Nick Fury is currently in his office. I can either set up a video link direct to his computer, or I can lure him into the main control room and you can address all the people at once." Thor considered for a minute.

"I will speak to Fury in his office." I opened my webcam and connected it to the mainframe. I turned the laptop towards Thor, and he instinctively angled it so the webcam framed him perfectly. _I wonder what it would be like to teach you to use a computer..._ I pondered. Jesus, imagine him raging over QWOP...actually, no, don't, think of what he'd do to my poor laptop!

"Ready?" He grunted his affirmative, and I started the video conference. I watched the exchange from Thor's side, avoiding being seen on camera. Fury jumped in surprise, before leaning towards his screen.

"Thor?" He asked and I mentally facepalmed. Who else did it look like, the freaking man in the moon?

"Yes. It is good to see you, Director Fury." Thor rumbled.

"How are you...how are you doing this? Are you on Earth?"

"I am on Asgard. We have been working on the Tesseract to connect with the internet and suchlike on Midgard, but that is of little importance right now."

"Riiiggghhhttt...who's been helping you?" I smirked. Fury was itching to get his hands on whoever it was who'd managed to hack into their systems, I could tell.

"It does not matter. Loki has escaped from his imprisonment, and we have reason to believe he is heading for you. I have been told you are investigating an energy flare in England?"

"Loki's escaped? How did that happen? And yes, there was some strange activity around there, but we put it down to the British being...British." **(AN: I am British. God save the Queen and tea and rain and all that)** Thor shook his head.

"We do not know how Loki succeeded in escaping. By all rights, it should have been impossible, and we are investigating the possibility that he had help. I suggest that you prioritise your investigation of the happenings in England, and that you inform the Avengers of the current situation. I doubt Loki will base his attack from England as it is unfamiliar to him there, but it is likely that England may be where he landed on Midgard, as Heimdall says the Bifrost left residue there." Fury nodded.

"What will you be doing?"

"I plan to search for any trace of my brother here on Asgard. If I find evidence that he has journeyed across the realms to you, I will follow him and assist in his capture." Thor looked at me sideways. "I will bring some people with me who may be able to help, if it comes to that." Fury looked mistrustful, but obviously decided that it would be better to agree with the god.

"Understood. We'll step our guard up. I trust you will be in contact?"

"Of course." Fury ended the video call and Thor pushed the laptop back to me. "I want you to keep an eye on everything that they are keeping an eye on, Lily. We will physically search for Loki, while you...virtually search for him." I nodded, cringing as my stomach gave a particularly loud grumble. "I'll ask Alva to bring you some food and other necessities, but for now, I must ask you to remain here. Koli will stay with you, but Heinrikr and Freyja will be needed elsewhere." He put a hand on my shoulder. "He will be found, Lily. Do not worry."

"Worry? Me? Nope, course not. I'm perfectly calm and very un-worried." I set my jaw and delved into S.H.I.E.L.D database again. Thor kissed my temple and left the room. Dammit, that really was distracting! It's not that I wanted him to stop doing it...quite the contrary, actually...but he could, you know, at least give me some warning! I set about building a programme to notify me when certain keywords were used, and smiled at Alva when she bought me a plate of food. I ate while I worked, and I worked for hours. Every time I decided I could get away with slacking off and opening Tumblr or something, a message box popped up to tell me that the word Loki had been used in a conversation, or that they'd got a 13% match on his face in Beijing. In the end, I gave up, and slumped in front of the laptop in a stupor, wishing that I could go to sleep. I'd been sat here for around 14 hours, and I was knackered. Koli was working quietly in the corner of the room on maintaining the connection, and I hadn't seen hide or hair of Thor since he left on his patrol after his conversation with Fury. I felt my eyelids becoming heavy, and I succumbed to sleep.

_I am on Earth. All around me, there are people fighting. The army has turned on the civilians, the soldiers have turned on each other and the people in the street throw themselves into the battle with wild abandon. It is warfare at its most basic – humans fighting other humans for no apparent reason other than to revel in the bloodshed. I watch in shock as a soldier runs at a small child; she couldn't have been more than 10. To my horror, the girl puts her hand out into the man's path and the soldier runs straight into the knife she is clutching. The girl smiles as he collapses to his knees and dies._

"_Now do you see?" I turn and see Loki standing next to me, in full body armour, horns and all. "This is what your race does without a leader, after only a little suggestion from me. This is my true nature." He raises his arms and bellows at the crowd. "Stop!" Everyone stops and looks at him. He smiles. "Kneel." The crowd obeys, and I unwillingly do the same, unable to stop my knees bending and resting in a pool of blood at my feet. I stare at him in horror as he walks among the bloodied people and the dead bodies. He turns back to me. "I orchestrated this, Lily. Now do you see?" He stalks towards me, and I scream, trying to rise to my feet and run, but my efforts are futile. He is controlling me, just as he is controlling everyone I can see._

"Lily? Lily, wake up!" I opened my eyes with a gasp, and Koli stopped shaking my shoulder. My breath juddered in my chest, and I passed my hand over my face, feeling dampness on my cheeks and on my eyelashes. I looked at him in shock, not wanting to believe that my dream was a sign of what was to come, but somehow knowing it to be telling the truth. "Are you okay, Lily? It was just a dream, you're stressed, it's nothing to worry about." His strong arm was wrapped around my shoulder and I shook my head.

"It wasn't just a dream. It was Loki. Get Thor. Now." I stood up from where I must have fallen off my chair and grabbed my laptop. I was vaguely aware of Koli running from the room as I typed out a message to S.H.I.E.L.D.

_Loki is coming to Earth, if he isn't already there. Assemble the Avengers. _

"Lily!" Thor ran across the room to me, barely pausing to consider my expression (which I'm pretty sure was haunted and terrified and all round unhappy) before he swept me up in a hug. I wrapped my arms around his middle and allow a sob to shake my body in the security of his embrace. He grabbed hold of my hands, and I clutched onto his tightly. "Tell me." I took a shaky breath and began.

"In my dream, it was hell on Earth, and it was hell of human making. Everyone was fighting and killing each other. And it was Loki who made it happen. He was controlling everyone somehow. It wasn't just a dream. It was too...vivid. He sent it to me to scare me. That's what he's planning. He's planning to start the biggest war Earth has ever seen, and then the human race will welcome his rule to end it." I stood up and shut my laptop, which was displaying S.H.I.E.L.D's reply.

_Understood._

"We have to go." Thor nodded.

"Go to your room, take anything you will need and meet me at the gates in twenty minutes." He squeezed my hand and I ran from the room. I was going...home.

**Reviewers win...hmmmm...one of those awesome little Loki dolls that look scarily real! It really doesn't take long, you don't even need an account and I'm so close to 100 reviews now that I can almost taste the victory! **

**I've never got 100 reviews before. I LOVE YOU GUYS!**


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

**LOKI'D! That is all.  
Okay, no it's not. I love writing Tony. He's brilliant. I hope I did okay...I certainly had fun doing it.  
And I'm not 100% pleased with how this turned out, but although the chapter itself is quite important to the storyline (I guess), in my brain it's just a filler to bridge the gap between them leaving Asgard and the next Lokily meeting, which is one of the first scenes I had planned in my head for this story, so I was never going to be completely happy with it.**

I reached the door of my room and paused. It had been my home for the past few months, and now I didn't know whether I was going to see it again. I shook myself and berated myself for being sentimental as I pushed the door open and went to the wardrobe. I changed into sturdy jeans and boots, pulling a hoodie over my head and tying my hair back securely. I packed a few things I couldn't live without into a satchel that Thor had given me a few weeks back; a couple of changes of clothes, laptop, phone, hairbrush, toiletries. I checked that the room was tidy before backing out the door and closing it with a click. I'm not sure why I wanted to leave it neat, but I suppose that it would make Alva's job easier, if nothing else. I turned around and saw Alva standing in the doorway of her own room. Her eyes were shining with tears, and I instinctively dropped my bag, ran over to her and hugged her. She returned the hug tightly, and I felt her sob quietly. I released her and she wiped her eyes quickly, smiling bravely at me.

"Thank you for everything, Alva. You've been a real friend to me." I squeezed her hand comfortingly, and I knew that my eyes were swimming with tears. I would miss her. A lot.

"As have you, Lily. I hope that we meet again." She kissed my cheek and hugged me quickly again.

"I'll try my best." I waved to her as I picked up my bag and walked off. I paused and looked back at her. "Wait...which way are the gates?" She laughed and gave me simple directions. My sense of direction really was hopeless.

**~X~**

I walked towards Thor who was standing at the gate with Heimdall, a man I had never spoken to, but who I knew to be the gatekeeper of the Bifrost. Even though that had been destroyed several years ago, he could still see across the realms to Earth and beyond. Thor was holding onto Mjölnir in one hand and the Tesseract in the other. I stood beside him.

"Do you have everything you need, Lily?" I nodded, tapping the satchel with a finger.

"Are we taking that with us?" I gestured towards the Tesseract, which was locked in its casket.

"No. Heimdall has agreed to wield it to send us to Midgard, but it is best that it remains here, where it can be closely guarded and protected from falling into the wrong hands." I knew that by 'wrong hands', he meant his brother's. Thor handed the casket to Heimdall and took my hand. "Are you ready?" I swallowed.

"As I'll ever be." Heimdall offered a handle of the Tesseract's safe to Thor, who took it. The gatekeeper shouted something, something that I could only guess was words of magic. I felt a pulling sensation in my gut and I was catapulted across the realms once again.

**~X~**

Ow.

That was my first thought.

Freaking. Mother. Loving. _Ow_.

"Lily?" I heard shouting, and recognised Thor's voice. I tried to call out to him but my throat failed abysmally. I shakily got to my feet, feeling sticky blood on the back of my head and on my palms. I squinted in the morning sunlight and saw the god several hundred metres away. I grabbed my bag and jogged over to him, ignoring my screaming muscles. He met me half way and cupped my face between his palms. "Are you alright?" I coughed.

"A little sore, but I'll be okay." I studied my hands and picked a few pieces of grit out of them. Bleurgh. "Where are we?" I looked around the desolate field.

"I was hoping that you could tell me. We got separated in the journey, and I presume that this led to us going off-course. We should be near S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters." I got my phone out and tried to use GPS to work out our whereabouts.

"I've got no signal." I held my phone high above my head in the hope of magically finding some reception. Thor spun around, having heard something I evidently hadn't. His eyes narrowed in disbelief as a figure appeared on the horizon, running towards us.

"Jane?" He muttered and I looked back at the person who was now coming into focus. Indeed it was Jane, looking as annoying perfect as always. Thor began sprinting towards her and wrapped her in a massive bear hug (or Thor hug...). I saw him press his face to her neck as her arms squeezed round his waist. As he lowered his lips to hers, I looked away, unwilling to interrupt (or even witness, actually) their reunion. I focused on my feet as I walked towards them, standing to one side until they broke apart. I saw a man in a well tailored suit approaching us and soon recognised him as Tony Stark. He paid me little attention and addressed Thor.

"Hate to break up the party, but we got things to do, bad guys to catch, Shawarma to eat." Thor let go of Jane apart from her hand and nodded to Stark.

"Stark."

"Sparky."

"I trust we are near a S.H.I.E.L.D base?"

"Correct. Shall we?" He pointed back to where he had come from and I noticed that a large...hatch? Trapdoor? _Thing_ had opened. Underground base. Sweet. Thor and Jane walked towards it, deep in conversation and I made to follow them, causing Stark to notice me and stand in my path. "And who might you be?"

"I'm a...friend of Thor's." He raised an eyebrow.

"Sure you are, sunshine, and I'm the incredible Hulk. Why don't you run along and go play with your dollies, and leave the work to the grown ups." Stark turned away from me and was reaching for his phone when I grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"Firstly, I'm not a child, I'm 18, so don't treat me like I'm five. Secondly, I came from Asgard with Thor to help, and you wouldn't know about Loki's escape if it wasn't for me." Comprehension dawned on his face as I let go of his shirt.

"You're the one who..."

"I'm nobody. But this nobody," I pointed to myself." "-sure is going to kick up a stink if Iron Man doesn't let her have her way." He swallowed and allowed me past. He fell in step beside me.

"So who are you then, Child Genius?"

"I'm not a child."

"Sure, sure..."

"18 is not a _child_."

"Compared to your buddy Thor, you're practically a foetus."

"Touché."

"So your name is..."

"Mind your own."

"Well then, Mind Your Own, what were you doing on Asgard? You're clearly from Earth."

"How do you know?"

"I just...do." We stepped down into the ground and the hatch closed behind us. Thor and Jane were being greeted by Director Fury, whose face was grave. "Hey there, Nick. Guess who I found?" Stark clapped a hand on Fury shoulder, much to the obvious chagrin of the director. "She," he pointed at me, "is our little hacker friend." Jane looked at me and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Lily?" She rushed over to me and threw her arms around my neck. I laughed as I hugged her back.

"I wondered how long it would take you to notice. I would have said something, but you were a little...preoccupied." I waggled my eyebrows at her and she blushed.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, and I nodded towards Thor.

"I've been on Asgard for the past few months, working with the technicians there on the Tesseract. I bet you're jealous of all the time I've spent with your missus, eh?" She elbowed me in the ribs and I stuck my tongue out at her.

"He's hardly my missus, Lily."

"No, he's just the god who wants to get in your pants." I deadpanned, and she giggled, unable to deny it. I looked at Thor and he was grinning, looking pretty smug.

"Excuse me," Fury interjected. "Can I just ask...who the hell are you, and what the hell have you got to do with all this?" I bit my lip.

"Well, Mr Fury, it's kinda a long story. What's more important now is figuring out what Loki's planning, how he's planning to execute said plan and where the hell he is." Fury blinked, and I saw Stark sniggering behind his back. I could see the director preparing a very sharp and cutting comeback, but he was caught short by a woman I recognised as Agent Hill running up to him.

"Sir, we've been getting some reports of people exhibiting strange and violent behaviour, you're needed in Control." He glared at me and followed her. I walked next to Jane, exchanging conversation in hurried whispers. She was a good friend, that much was certain, but I had never told her about my past, and I hoped to avoid doing so. Another thing I hoped to avoid was Black Widow, but I knew that she was currently in Ukraine, so maybe I would cross her path until I'd secured my safety here.

**~X~**

I watched the screens and saw the destruction spreading across the U.S.A at an alarming rate. Fury was talking to Thor and Banner (who I hadn't introduced myself to yet, but when I did, I intended to be _incredibly_ polite) and Jane was leaning over someone's shoulder and asking them confusing astrophysicist questions. Agent Hill walked over to me and I smiled unsurely at her. She didn't return it.

"I need your name, date of birth and occupation." I rolled my eyes.

"Lily, around 18 years ago and unemployed." She frowned.

"Lily what? When 18 years ago? And when I ask for your occupation, that's an invite to tell me about what you were doing on Asgard." I sighed.

"I know you're just doing your job, Agent, but there's really not much I can tell you. I've gone by the name Lily Girling for the past six years, but I was born under another. I honestly don't _remember_ when my birthday is, as I've never really celebrated it, and as for what my work was on Asgard, I need to speak to Thor about that first." Her eyes narrowed at me, and they followed me suspiciously as I tapped Thor on the arm and asked to speak to him outside.

"What is it, Lily?" He asked once we reached the corridor.

"Can we agree that my job on Asgard was simply to help with the Tesseract, and had nothing to do with Loki?" Thor began to protest, but I cut him off. "If they know that I spent a lot of time with him, they won't trust my help. If we absolutely need to, we can tell them, but I'd rather keep it between us for now." He hesitated, but eventually nodded. "Thanks."

"Is that all?" He looked back into the control room, his eyes searching for Jane. I grinned at him.

"Thor and Jaaaane, sitting in a tree, G!" He chuckled as he gently batted me round the head (he was learning...that time he almost didn't hurt me!). "Oh, come on, it's cute!"

"Regardless, it is none of your business, and we have more important things to worry about. What do you suppose Loki's plan is?" I frowned.

"At first glance, I'd say that he's using some sort of mind control or hypnotism? And that he's using that to make everyone fight...he knows that if the battles are between humans, S.H.I.E.L.D will be unwilling to take military action. Then I guess he'll swan in and take control, and people will submit to him gratefully." Thor nodded.

"That does seem likely. As the God of Mischief, he does have the power to plant impulses or thoughts in the minds' of others, but this is on a far larger scale than anything I have seen him do before."

"Perhaps he's using some sort of transmitter or amplifier or something?"

"We have no way to be sure. We must wait for further information."

"I hate waiting."

"I know." He rested a hand on my shoulder for a moment before going back into the control room. I followed soon after, and as soon as I entered, Agent Hill intercepted me.

"So what have you decided is your occupation, then?" I gritted my teeth.

"I worked with the Asgardian technicians on the Tesseract, Agent. We were trying to harness its power, and we were far more successful than S.H.I.E.L.D ever was." I gave her a sickly sweet smile and brushed past her, perching myself on the edge of a desk.

"Lily has a theory as to what Loki's plans are. She had a dream..." I glared at Thor. Yup. Thanks for bringing that up. He looked at me, saw my expression and faltered. "In any case, it does sound like something my brother would do. I advise you to hear her out." Everyone in the room turned to me then and I inwardly cursed. I HATED BEING PUT ON THE SPOT! Often as not, I babbled and just sounded like I have Tourettes. Which is, you know, fine, except _I don't have Tourettes_. I cleared my throat. Dammit.

"As Thor mentioned," *insert angry glare _here_* "I had a dream. It led me to believe that Loki's plan is to implant thoughts or something into everyone's heads and make them want to fight everyone and anyone. Some sort of hypnotism. We can already see his work-" I gestured to the screens, and everyone in the room collectively winced as we saw a man being sprayed with rifle bullets. "-and so at this point in time, it's safe to assume that his plan is working. At the minute, it's just confined to a few states, but I spoke to Thor, and we think that he's got some sort of transmitter that is spreading his thought control. That's what we need to find." A few people still looked lost, and I sighed. "Right, who watches Doctor Who?" Several people nodded and exchanged _wtf_ glances. "You know the storyline with the Master? When he was running for Prime Minister and transmitted the _duh duh duh duh_ four beat drum beat across the planet? And then he took over everything and it was all bad? I think that's sort of what Loki is planning, only he doesn't want to introduce some alien race to be law enforcers. He wants to throw the planet into turmoil and become its saviour." The tension in the room was palpable. "So what I'm basically saying is...I don't know who he's directing the hypnosis at specifically, or if it's a general thing, but we all need to be careful. If you get any homicidal urges, lock yourself up or something and stay out of everyone's way. We need to find that transmitter." Fury nodded, still looking sceptical.

"I still don't know who you are, Miss, or how you could possibly know about how Loki's mind works, but Thor seems to trust you, and that's good enough for me. People, get to work. We're looking for some sort of beacon that's started transmission in the last 48 hours and is situated within the U.S.A. Agent Hill, have we heard back from Barton and Romanoff yet?"

"We received a message about ten minutes ago saying that they were on their way, and will be arriving in approximately six hours. Steve Rodgers is also en route, he should be here by 1800 hours. The helicarrier is also being prepared; it will be ready for take-off to coincide with the arrival of agents Barton and Romanoff." Fury nodded.

"I do not want to order attacks on civilians, but keep the situation monitored. If the fighting gets serious, we'll send in uncompromised agents to try and keep the peace. I want everyone focussed on finding that transmitter, but don't let Loki slip through our radar. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, we are at war."

**And the plot thickens...reviewers win a handful of sunshine ^_^ OH MY GOD I HAVE OVER 100 REVIEWS BUT WHAT ARE THESE THINGS YOU CALL REVIEWERS DO I NEED TO FEED THEM OFTEN DO I NEED TO TAKE THEM WALKIES WHAT WHAT WHAT.**

**Rosiakatraven: No, I don't have DA unfortunately, but you are welcome to draw whatever you like! Send me a link when you're done...wow, I can't believe people want to actually DRAW stuff for this story! That requires even more effort than reviewing! Thank you for ALL your kind reviews, sweetheart! And also, you were my 100****th**** reviewer (I think). Thank you. You win a cookie.**

**Also, OI JEN! Yes you, blondie. You had better remember that Thor DVD on Monday...grrrrr...**


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

**Double figures. THIS WAS GOING TO BE SHORT, GODAMMIT. I'm going to try and finish this by...shall we say...chapter 15?**

I jumped in surprise as someone sat down next to me and rubbed my eyes to see Stark crossing his legs.

"You've got blood in your hair." He commented casually. My hand jumped to the back of my head and I poked it uncertainly. Ouch.

"It's not too bad, just a scratch...bruised, nothing more." I smiled.

"I'll take your word for it, sunshine. You've caused quite the stir here, you know. Hacking into the S.H.I.E.L.D mainframe from another world, no less, and now dictating Loki's plans to us as if he personally told you them. You're quite the enigma, Lily." He raised his glass towards me before downing the amber liquid. "I wonder, what is your secret? How many skeletons are in your closet?" I looked away and he nudged me with his knee. "Come on. Just between us girls. Spill the beans! I love a good bit of gossip." I sighed noisily.

"Ask no questions, you'll get no lies, Stark." He tutted.

"Please, call me Tony. After all, I'm on the same side as you, Lily. We might as well be friends." I raised an eyebrow. "What was really your job on Asgard? And don't give me that Tesseract bull, you're a terrible liar."

"I did work on the Tesseract!" I retorted indignantly, and he gave me a _Bitch, please_ look. "I never said that was my only job there, but it was the most fruitful."

"Oh?"

"I'm not saying anymore, Star- _Tony_, so you might as well give it up." He stood up and ruffled my hair.

"I don't give up, sunshine. I just bide my time." He walked from the room and I stared after him. I wasn't fooling anyone, was I?

**~X~**

An hour or so after my conversation with Stark, I was freshly showered and dressed in clean clothes. I grinned as I blow dried my hair. _Oh hairdryers, I have missed you_, I thought to myself, and then nearly dropped the damn thing when my phone started buzzing. I picked it up and opened the text.

_Heads up, sunshine, Captain Spandex has arrived. Better get down here quick, Fury's got ants in his eyepatch._

I smirked, and then realised that I had never given Tony Stark my number and how the hell was he texting me and WHAT THE HELL STALKERRRRRRR! The phone buzzed again.

_And you're not the only one who's capable of hacking mobile devices and computer mainframes on this ship, sweetie._

"Okay, that's just..._creepy_." I murmured to myself as I finished drying my hair, grabbed my stuff and left the room allocated to me. All the corridors in this place looked identical, but thankfully, my room was only a couple of right turns away from the Control room. Or perhaps they were left...no, it was a right and a left turn, definitely...

"Oh shit." I murmured as I realised I was hopelessly lost. "Can't they put a map on the wall or something? Is that too much to ask?" I tried retracing my steps, but ended up in a totally unfamiliar room. I spun around on my heel, trying to figure out where to go from here, when I saw a blonde man standing in front of a stars'n'strips suit. Captain America. I coughed and he looked around, his eyes settling on me.

"Who are you, ma'am?" He asked. My internal monologue went as follows;

_Hey look, it's Captain Spandex, oh hey, he's speaking to me, he called me ma'am, that's sweet WOW he's good looking and holy cow look at those CHEEKBONES and I bet he looks really buff in that suit...oh my god his bum would look AMAZING maybe I could ask him to suit up so I could see...wait, he asked me a question...waaaah I bet I look really simple now._

I cleared my throat. Bloody sexy men, distracting me all the time, it's not fair!

"I'm Lily. I'm a friend of Thor and Jane's." He nodded and I took it as an invitation to stand by his side.

"Fury was wondering where you were." I grinned sheepishly.

"I got lost."

"That's understandable. Back in my day, bases had maps on the walls."

"Exactly!" He smiled and I died a little inside. I should just go live in a cave or somewhere where I WASN'T GOING TO KEEP GETTING SIDETRACKED. He studied me quietly.

"How old are you, ma'am? If you don't mind my asking?" DAMN YOU BLUSH!

"It's fine, and you can call me Lily, you know." He nodded. "I'm 18, or thereabouts. I don't keep exact track of my age."

"You are so young to be involved in all of this." He looked at his suit ruefully. "I'm probably too old."

"Sweetheart, you may be like, a pensioner, but you've certainly aged well." I grinned at him...wait, was I _flirting_ with Captain America? I think I was...sweet... "Besides, Thor is thousands of years old, and that hasn't stopped him, has it? Hasn't stopped him pulling a twentysomething either..."

"That is true. Anyway, we had better get back to the control room. Walk with me, you don't want to get lost again." I elbowed him (hot damn, MUSCLES!) and we walked back to Fury and his rage.

**~X~**

"Nice of you to join us, Ms. Girling." Fury's voice was dripping with sarcasm as I meekly entered the room behind Steve.

"I got lost..." I mumbled.

"Your room is literally down the corridor. How on Earth could you get lost?"

"I'm talented like that." Stark snorted and I shot him a look. Fury narrowed his eyes at me and then addressed the entire room.

"The situation is bad. We've already got three members of S.H.I.E.L.D staff locked up downstairs, and I really don't want to add to that. If you feel anything that doesn't feel like your own thoughts, for God's sake, _fight it_. We'll be loading into the Helicarrier in about an hour, so I'll see you there then, provided of course, you _don't get lost_." I suppressed the urge to growl at the director and silently fumed as half the people in the room laughed at me. A woman suddenly stood up.

"Sir, we've got a hit. There's a signal, it started transmission 27 hours ago, and I've got a 78% face match on Loki." Fury swept round the desks and studied the computer screen. He started speaking into an earpiece.

"Agents Barton and Romanoff, do you copy? You better step on it, we've found him." He turned to the rest of us. "Get on the Helicarrier with anything you need." A voice came over the PA, and I shivered as I heard the voice of the woman who killed my parents.

"Rodger that, we'll be there in half an hour." He looked at the frozen room.

"Well what are you waiting for? GO!" There was a flurry of movement as people started gathering up computers and papers and weapons. Stark turned to Steve.

"Suit up?"

"Suit up." They ran out of the room. Thor came over to me, remarkably gracefully for someone of his size.

"Have you got your bag, Lily?" I lifted it up off my shoulder to show him, grateful that I'd thought to bring it with me when I left my room and I wouldn't have to go through the humiliating business of finding the damn place. He nodded. "Come with me." I frowned at Jane, who'd just reached us. "Jane, you as well." We exchanged glances before following the god out of the room.

"Where do you reckon..." I began and Jane shrugged.

"I don't know. We're not headed for the Helicarrier, that's for sure." We turned a corner.

"Oh." We stared at the array of guns and weapons before us. "Armoury." A man ran up to Thor.

"Sir, you can't be down here." Thor looked at him.

"I am the God of Thunder, and I will go where I please. These two girls need guns." The man's eyes widened and he blanched.

"Certainly, errrr...sir...ladies, if you'd like to come with me." Jane and I grinned at each other and followed the man. Soon, we were both equipped with a couple of guns each and several spare rounds. The man turned to us. "I'll keep it quick, because Director Fury wants me to load this lot up onto the Helicarrier. To fire, you just need to..." I clicked the safety off, aimed at a target on the other end of the room and pulled the trigger. The bullet smacked straight into the centre of the circle. Thor clapped slowly, and I could hear him laughing. "...turn the safety off..."

"I can shoot." I said simply. "And reload and all that crap. Jane, I teach you on the Helicarrier, if you'd like?" She nodded. "We won't waste anymore of your time then, sir." We walked quickly from the room, leaving behind the stunned man and his arsenal. Thor looked at me sideways over the top of Jane's head (they were holding hands, how sickening).

"That was quite impressive, Lily." He grinned, and I could tell that he didn't really like the arsenal man, and was glad that I'd shown him up.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Jane asked, disbelief colouring her voice. I exchanged a quiet glance with Thor.

"My parents." I answered simply, and effectively put an end to that conversation.

**~X~**

Half an hour later I was sat against a desk in the control room on the Helicarrier, bouncing a ball against the wall and catching it with my other hand. BORED. I considered getting my laptop out, but I didn't really think S.H.I.E.L.D would take kindly to me hacking into their database while sat in the presence of the director. Besides, if I did get my laptop out, they'd probably want to take it away for examination or something, and I didn't really fancy being parted with it for any length of time...

A door slid open and two agents dressed in tight fitting black leather walked in. One was holding on to a large bow and the other had two guns in holsters on her hips. Barton and Romanoff. Hawk Eye and Black Widow.

Awwwwh, they'd make such a cute yet BAMF couple!

I kept my eyes downcast as they walked past me and over to Fury. I heard them greeting the other Avengers on their way before falling into hushed conversation with them. The ground shuddered beneath me and I looked out of the window in alarm to see the Earth falling away from under us as we took off into the air. Okay, that was cool. I heard metallic clanking and Iron Man sat on the floor next to me. Stark was holding his mask under his arm and had a glass of something with a percentage volume in his other hand.

"Nice suit." I commented drily.

"Indeed it is. I've grown rather attached to it over the years." I chuckled.

"Shouldn't you be over with the rest of the Hero Brigade discussing tactics?" I asked.

"Strictly speaking, I'm not one of the Avengers. Fury and Romanoff decided I wasn't responsible enough and hired me as a consultant. Could never resist crashing a good party though." I shook my head, smiling. "I'd much rather talk with you. What do you have to gain from being here?"

"Not much, if I'm honest. Wanted a change of scenery, I guess." His eyes widened as he looked at me properly, head tilting to one side.

"Hey, aren't you that girl who hijacked Thor and Loki's ride back to Asgard after Loki last went psycho?" I nodded and he raised his glass to me. "That was brave."

"That, or stupid." I muttered. He tapped his metal knee against my jean-clad one.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a little stupid sometimes. Fury wouldn't let you stay if he thought you couldn't handle it. You're one of us now, kid. Welcome to the family." He offered his fist and I bumped it with my own. Bro fist with Iron Man. There's one to tell the metaphorical grandkids.

**~X~**

I strapped myself into the seat at the back of the jet and looked around. I was in a plane with Black Widow and Hawk Eye in the cockpit, sat next to Thor and Iron Man, with Jane, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk opposite me. Jane caught my eye and pulled a face. I knew exactly how she was feeling. Very insignificant.

"Okay, we'll be there in about 20 minutes, Boss. Uh huh. I got ya." I heard Romanoff speaking into her earpiece as she expertly flipped a few switches that allowed Barton to get the small plane into the air. There weren't any windows, but I could tell that we were moving fast.

"Okay, plan of action. Loki will have left something guarding the transmitter, so we're not going for that straight away. We'll set up base one block out and scope out the area before we move in. Stark, when we get there, you do a quick fly round and work out what the hell it is and report back, but no heroics. Barton, we'll want a lookout on the roof of wherever we stay, so park this thing on top of a building and then you stay there. The rest of us will go out in the streets and try to break up what fighting we can, but try not to cause lasting damage, because these civilians aren't in control of their actions. Jane, Lily, you stay at base and keep a line open to S.H.I.E.L.D at all times – your job is to monitor the situation and keep us posted." There were murmurs of agreement all round the plane and the Captain leant back in his chair.

"Um, question?" Stark put his hand up and Steve just raised an eyebrow at him (damn, that was hot). "If the girls are just staying at the base, can I get some food and drop it back with them so they can make us dinner?" I scoffed.

"Tony sweetie, if you want food poisoning, then by all means. I am a hopeless cook, and from what I remember, Jane lives on freezer meals anyway." We grinned at Tony and he raised his hands in defeat.

"They're ganging up on me, guys. A couple of girls who are not superheroes and they're ganging up on me. I feel like I'm being targeted here. Bruce, back me up, will ya, buddy?" Doctor Banner just shook his head at Tony, his eyes twinkling. "Okay, fine, fine, I'll get takeaway. Pizza?" I went to elbow him, but then I remembered that he was wearing his suit, and that I'd probably break my elbow, so I chose not to.

"Guys, we're coming in to land now. The transmitter is on the top of a building one block south of us, and we got a perfect view of it from the top two floors of this building." There was a slight bump as the plane set down on the roof. We tumbled out of the jet and I shielded my eyes as I surveyed the scene. The streets were awash with blood and I could see some sort of glowing pylon on a roof a few hundred metres away. The Avengers immediately set off for the roads, with Iron Man taking to the sky. Banner hesitated and Steve turned to him.

"Doctor, why don't you try and get a fix on that pylon from here?" Banner nodded and grabbed a computer bag from inside the jet, heading into the building. Jane and I looked at each other, shrugged and followed him.

We sat ourselves down in a corner at the opposite end of the room to Banner, who was leaning over a computer screen and studying it intently, trying to disguise the fact his hands were shaking. I opened my laptop and clicked onto the S.H.I.E.L.D mainframe, which I hadn't closed before I left Asgard. Jane and I proceeded to have a quiet and civilised conversation, catching up as best as we could. Considering I'd never told her about my past or anything, it was difficult to talk to her without giving anything away, and while I was itching to tell her about why I really stayed on Asgard, I knew that I couldn't. After the fifth awkward silence, Iron Man flew in the already smashed window, scaring the crap out of everyone in the room.

"Sorry guys. The transmitter is building power. From my calculations, which are always right, it'll expand to cover most of the world in...oooh, couple of days? We gotta move fast and destroy that thing. Loki's in the building, I saw him." My eyes flashed at the mention of his name, and I knew it didn't escape Stark's notice. "I'm going down to ground level, see what I can do there. Coming, doc?" Banner shook his head.

"I don't want the other guy to hurt innocent people. It's best we stay here until I can let him at the transmitter." Tony nodded, his mask slotting back into place.

"Suit yourself." He shot back out of the window again. I stretched my arms above my head and turned to Jane.

"I'm going to go find a toilet and see if there's any food here." She nodded, her eyes trained on my laptop and I slipped out the door, running down the stairs as quietly as I could. I needed to speak to Loki, because I knew that I was the only person who had even the remotest chance of making him stop.

**Phew, that was long. Last of the filler chapters before the good bit. SPOILERS: Lokily meeting in chapter 11! Reviewers win...the smell of rain from England. Come on, everyone loves a bit of petrichor, right? In fact, why don't you **_**have**_** the rain from England? Can't say I never give you anything...**


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

**I get the feeling I'm either going to love writing this chapter, or hate it because I can't do it justice. We shall see!  
And if I fail my RE and Maths exams tomorrow (and my History on Friday and my Sociology the next Tuesday) because I was writing this story...I blame you. Each and every one of you. Jks, ly :) 69 people have favourited this story now...lulz.**

I reached the bottom floor and sidled out of the door, pressing myself against the wall and looking round. The fighting was mainly further down the road, but I didn't want to risk any of the Hero Brigade seeing me and asking questions. I ran across the road to the shadow of another building and again checked if anyone had seen me. A stranger began rushing towards me and I reacted instinctively, pulling a gun out of my pocket and hitting him in the face with the butt of it. He dropped, unconscious. I stared at him. Do I just leave him, or..._dammit_. I knelt beside him and quickly arranged his limbs into the recovery position, making sure his airway was clear before backing away, all the time scanning the streets for any other unwanted attention. It may have been self defence, but I sure as hell felt guilty about knocking out a complete stranger. God, I'm weird. I jogged down the block, keeping in the shade of buildings as much as I could. I ducked into a doorway as Iron Man flew overhead, hid behind a bin as Captain America ran past. My journey to Loki's base wasn't as speedy as I would have liked, but at least the Avengers hadn't seen me. Jane would be getting suspicious by now, as I hadn't returned. I looked at my phone, which was already displaying a text from her, and turned it off. I was on my own. _Good luck_, I wished myself as I stepped into the revolving doors of the building, guessing that Loki would be up high.

I ran up four flights of stairs, grateful that I exercised regularly or I would be a pool of sweat on the floor by the end of it. I looked through the translucent glass of a door window and saw a silhouette that was undoubtedly his. I exhaled, trying to calm my wild heartbeat down and opened the door with a click. He spun around, raising a hand that was glowing with blue power – the same blue that his skin turned when he got mad. I let the door shut behind me and turned to face him, causing him to falter and drop his arm.

"Li...Lily?" I smirked.

"Yes, Loki, that's right. Well done." I kept my tone lighthearted and teasing, the same as I would on any other day.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, disbelief colouring his voice. I rolled my eyes.

"Really, Loki, you're a smart guy. Surely you can figure that out." I smiled, trying to keep the tension that was causing my fists to clench out of my eyes.

"You...Thor. He brought you with him." I nodded. "Why would you come here?"

"Holiday." He raised an eyebrow. "After my _trial_, I kinda wanted a break. And then when I had a nap, I had a _horrible_ dream..." His eyes were stony as I approached him, stopping a few metres away. "So I figured I deserved some time off, and what better place to come than Earth?" I smiled tightly. "Of course, it isn't going to be _quite_ as restful as I intended, but I'll take it."

"You should have stayed on Asgard." He hissed and turned back to the window, surveying the carnage with his arms folded. I stood next to him, leaning my hands on the bar that encompassed the room.

"Maybe." I conceded. "That was quite impressive, you know." He looked down at me. "The blue hand power thing. It was good. And that dream you sent me...that was..." I nodded approvingly. "Were you still in Asgard then, or did you manage to send that one across the realms? Because if you were already here, then...wow." I worked to keep my voice nonchalant, but he knew me too well.

"It was clearly effective. You're scared of me." I scoffed.

"Hardly. In awe of your power, perhaps." He smirked. "So what do you intend to do, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, once you've stopped everyone fighting, and you're the ruler of the world. What then?" He sighed.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, human."

"Try me." My voice was steely.

"Once I've weeded out the weak from the strong, I'll have them make Midgard the strongest of the realms. My reign will spread – first to Asgard, then Jotenheim, and then the across the rest of the worlds. I will be a King above all others, and everyone will bow to _me_." I clapped.

"Nice spiel. Practised that much?" He gave me a withering look and turned away. "So...when you're ruler of all the realms and all that...what are you going to do? Surely it'll be incredibly high maintenance, and you'd hardly have many friends after, you know, you'd invaded all their homes and suchlike. It sounds kinda lonely."

"Solitude does not bother me." I laughed.

"Sure it doesn't, Loki. You keep telling yourself that." I patted his leather clad arm condescendingly and he pulled away, walking back to the centre of the room.

"What are you doing here, Lily?"

"I already told you. Holiday."

"Don't be childish."

"I'm only 18, I'm allowed to be childish sometimes."

"And stop changing the subject."

"You started it, you called me childish."

"I was merely stating facts." I stuck my tongue out at him, being the very epitome of immature. "Why did you come here?"

"Here as in Earth, or here as in _here_ here?" I asked.

"Both."

"Well, I came to Earth because Thor wouldn't be able to find his way around without me, and we didn't know if Heimdall would get us straight to a S.H.I.E.L.D base or not. Plus, I've been friends with his...er...girl for ages, and I thought it'd be nice to see her again. I also owe Natasha Romanoff a smack in the face and this seemed like a pretty good opportunity. And of course, there was the small thing that you pretty much framed me for your escape, which I will admit, kinda pissed me off. So I wanted to have a go at you about that too." He grinned and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Stop looking so pleased with yourself, douche." His grin only widened. "And then I came _here_ so I could have said go at you. And to try and persuade you to call off the attack before it's too late." I moved and stood in front of him. "So, yeah. Consider yourself well and truly bitched at, meanie. The court are freaking horrible! Especially that Folkvardr character..." I rubbed my jaw as I remembered how he'd grabbed it. "If you had just say, left a note saying 'Don't mind me, I'm just going to escape, but Lily had nothing to do with it, she's so dumb she didn't notice me plotting', then all of that fiasco would have been avoided."

"I apologise profusely." He gave a mocking bow, and as he straightened up I slapped him across the face. Not hard, but it made a very satisfying crack. I smiled.

"Apology accepted. Now, the second part of my coming here." My eyes lit upon a very squidgy looking sofa and I flung myself on it, kicking my feet over the arm. "Sit." I patted the cushion next to me and he did as I asked, arranging his cloak around him. I picked up a fold of it and tutted. "Seriously, Loki, don't you think this is a little ostentatious? Besides, it's like, summer. Aren't you absolutely boiling?"

"You forget, Lily. I am a Frost Giant."

"Hmm. Good point." I dropped the fabric and turned to face him properly, crossing my legs between us. "So. You going to give up the attack already?"

"No."

"Dammit, I knew it wasn't going to be that easy."

"You are obscenely naive, Lily. Did you really think that you could just walk in here and I'd drop all my carefully laid plans just because you asked me to?"

"I'd kinda hoped so, yeah."

"You are so predictably human. Always trying to see the best in people. Your trust makes you _blind_, Lily. I could see you becoming more and more comfortable in my presence as the weeks passed, and now here you are. Sitting not two feet away from me perfectly at ease, when I could kill you like _that_." He snapped his fingers and I flinched. "It's sad, almost. You trust that I won't kill you, but do you see any misgivings about the slaughter taking place out there?" He swept his arms towards the window, and I steadfastly refused to look at the bloodshed. "You're so intent on making everyone into heroes that you didn't even stop to _consider_ the fact that one of your _friends_ betrayed you and helped me escape." My gaze snapped up to his. One of my friends? What was that supposed to mean?

"Who? What?" I frowned, incredibly confused.

"Koli." My heart dropped like a stone. "He visited me on an almost daily basis and gave me the means to escape, to break free from the magical constraints upon me in that cell, and told me exactly how to set up this transmitter-" He pointed to the ceiling. "-so that I may enslave Midgard to my thoughts. He overpowered Heimdall and allowed me to make my way here. When I return to Asgard to take what is mine, he will stand by my side as my second in command. Really Lily, were you that foolish as to accept him? He told me how all it took was a kiss on the forehead to make you blush and concede to whatever he said. I do not find that hard to believe." My eyes were swimming with tears and I brushed them away angrily. Koli. That bastard...His friendliness and gentle nature were all a lie. "Now, Lily, there is no need to cry." Loki mocked me and I glared at him furiously.

"For once, Loki, can you please SHUT THE HELL UP!" I shouted and he looked taken aback at my sudden outburst. I inhaled through my nose, trying to calm myself down. "You are so self-centred it's almost unbelievable! I mean, once you have taken over all the realms, what will you be?"

"I will be powerful, held in awe by all the people."

"No." I shook my head sadly. "You'll be a dictator. Tyranny wouldn't suit you Loki. You would be _hated _by all the people you ruled over, and they wouldn't _respect_ you. They would fear you."

"Is that such a bad thing?"

"Yes, it is! Fear leads to anger, and then there'll be an uprising that you could do nothing to abate. You have nothing to gain by this, Loki, so just stop it before it goes too far." I stared at him earnestly and he chuckled.

"Look at you, attempting to appeal to my better nature. Surely you have learnt by now, Lily, that I don't _have_ a better nature. This is who I am, and I will not listen to your whining anymore." He stood up, making for the door and I ran after him.

"Godammit, Loki!" I grabbed his arm and brought him to a halt. "Can't you see? If you carry on with this _insanity_, you will never gain respect or compassion from others. That's what you want, isn't it? To be accepted? This is really not the way to go about it." He sneered at me.

"What would you know about what I want, child? You do not know me at all." I sighed in exasperation.

"I may not _know_ you at all, but I _care_ about you, Loki! So help me, I do!" His eyes widened and I inwardly hit myself for making that admission. "Okay? I may be mad, or deranged, but I care. I don't want to see you building yourself up on a fucking pedestal only to fall from that height. It will destroy you. Just stop this. Stop this." I dropped his arm helplessly. "Why don't you let people see the good in you?" I groaned, pushing my fringe out of my eyes.

"There is no good in me, Lily." His voice was tired and he suddenly looked so old.

"I refuse to believe that." Impulsively, I reached up, standing on my toes to put a hand to his cheek and bring him down to my height. I kissed him, dead on the lips for a too-short second. His eyes were so close to mine, and I could see myself reflected in them. "Please, Loki. Give people a chance to care for you. Stop this." I dropped back to my normal height, my lips tingling from the ice cold touch of his. I pulled my hand away from his face, immediately mourning the loss of the smooth feeling of his skin on my palm. I turned to leave and made for the door.

Suddenly, he was in front of me and I pressed my hand to my heart, only just managing to suppress the scream that tried to escape my throat. His eyes were..._burning_...with some indescribable emotion, and I barely had the chance to register that before his hand cupped my cheek and brought my lips to his. My internal monologue exploded.

_Oh my god there is a Loki, he suddenly appeared like right in front of me and I almost crapped myself and hey, look, his eyes have gone all funny, what is that, wait, woah, woah, he is touching my face, he is TOUCHING my FACE, guys, hang on, HOLY SHIT HE IS KISSING ME, WHAT IS THIS, WHY AM I WHAT, yo Lily, quit with the retarded rambling and FREAKING KISS HIM BACK, mmmmm, he's a very good kisser...I could get used to this...wait, isn't he the bad guy? GODAMMIT LILY, WHY ARE YOU KISSING THE BAD GUY, WHAT IS IT WITH YOUR TASTE IN MEN, okay, I'll have a go at myself later, I'm quite enjoying this, so I'll make the most of it thank you very much._

He pulled away, and I became aware that at some point his hand had become knotted in my hair, his other palm resting low on the small of my back. My arms were wrapped around his neck and I stared at him in wonder. He was breathing heavily, and I inwardly cursed that infernal breastplate that was stopping my hands from touching his chest.

"That was..." He began.

"My thoughts entirely. Come back here, I wasn't finished." I mumbled and he obligingly pressed his lips to mine again. This was really very nice. I was having a hard time restraining myself. Just...HOLY COW I have never been so thoroughly snogged in my life. I would like to spend several hours a day kissing Loki, please. There are also several other things I would like to spend several hours a day doing with Loki, but I must suppress those bad, _bad_, indecent thoughts because I will have to fry my brain if I don't. Unwillingly, I pulled back and rested my forehead against his, trying to regain control of my heartbeat, breathing and hormones. "Now that I've been entirely irresponsible and probably very stupid, and your brother is going to absolutely freaking _kill_ both of us if he finds out, will you _please_ call off the attack? Otherwise I am going to be in majorly deep shit with my conscience if you carry on with this after I've been...you know. Carrying on with you." He laughed, resting a finger against my swollen mouth.

"Of course not, Lily. The attack continues." That brought me down from my cloud with a bump. I stumbled out of his arms in shock, raising my hand to my lips.

"But...I thought..."

"You thought what? That just because I am attracted to you I would spare the rest of your race?" A small part of me felt all fuzzy when he said that he was _attracted_ to me (squeal), but the majority of my brain was either pissed at him or pissed at myself.

"I thought that it might at least give you a minor change of heart. I have...to go." I shook my head and headed for the door. It suddenly started glowing with the same incandescent blue light and I hesitated before reaching through it for the door handle. The light felt cold. Really cold. I pulled on the handle but it wouldn't budge. I could feel Loki's eyes boring into the back of my head as I tried to get out, but it was futile. I slumped, pulling my now freezing hand back and turning to Loki. He was smiling charmingly. Urgh. Why was he oh-so hot, but oh-so dickwad-y?

"So out of all the people on this planet, the first you're going to physically enslave...is me." My voice was almost as tired as I felt. All the fight had gone out of me, and I slid down the wall next to the glowing door, sitting on the floor dejectedly. His face softened and he sat next to me, taking hold of my hands gently.

"You are right. Ruling over the nine realms would be lonely, and I have experienced enough loneliness for a hundred lifetimes. I don't want to enslave you." I couldn't stop my heart lifting in hope, even though I knew all too well that he was the God of Mischief and Lies and he was manipulating me. "I want you to stand by my side as my Queen." My head snapped round in shock and I stared at him in disbelief.

"Your...Queen?" I stuttered.

"Rule by my side. All the worlds will look up to you as an idol – someone who has made something of themselves under my reign. You will give them hope. Out of all the women I have ever met, none have been as worthy of this as you are, Lily." He kissed my fingers and I shivered.

"Loki, I..."

"Just say yes, Lily." He pleaded. Was he...actually asking me to..._marry_ him, or just be his like...partner?

Why was I even thinking about this? I knew what the answer was the moment he asked the question.

**All together now...**_**IT'S THE WAY YOU LOVE ME, IT'S A FEELING LIKE THIS, IT'S CENTRIFUGAL MOTION, IT'S PERPETUAL BLISS, IT'S THAT PIVATOL MOMENT, IT'S ahh SUBLIMINAL, THIS KISS, THIS KIIIISSSS, it's **_**criminal**_**, THIS KISS, THIS KIIISSSSSS! (le dance)**_

**Okay, wasn't going to leave it there, but a) this is already insanely long, b) I love cliffhangers and c) I'm really freaking hungry.**

**Was any of it out of character? Did I do this entire scene justice (I'm pretty sure I did okay, at least!)? What's Lily going to say? REVIEW AND ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS! IT IS NOW YOUR HOMEWORK.**

**Oh god, I've become my worst nightmare. Why am I setting homework? Just review and let me know what you think, yeah? You will win...the soft and squidgy sofa mentioned in the chapter! Yeah!**


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

**Going to /try/ to keep this one /short/ to make up for the monstrosity that was chapter 11, and there's just a little bit I need to finish up from that scene. Dear god. Where were we?**

_Why was I even thinking about this? I knew what the answer was the moment he asked the question._

"Loki..." I looked down at our entwined hands and couldn't help thinking that it seemed so _right_. Urgh, the cliché of it all makes me _itch_. My future literally rested upon one of two short words; yes or no. Both are so easy to say, but I wasn't ready for the repercussions of either of them. "I...you _know_ that I care for you...but I can't. I...no, I can't do this. I won't." His eyes widened as I pulled my hand out of his, cradling it to my chest and stood up, putting several metres between us to reduce the temptation of reaching out to him again. "I mean...you're taking over the universe. I don't want to be involved in that. I can't have that on my hands, all the blood and the resentment...I'm sorry, truly, I am...but this is too much for me." He stood up and tried to put his hands on my shoulders but I batted them away. "Don't. This is difficult enough as it is. I'm loath to say it, but this is difficult for me. It shouldn't be...god, what have I done?" I sighed, burying my face in my hands.

"You will be safe by my side. I can literally offer you the world and beyond if you'll just say _yes_. I promise that I will give you whatever it is you need, and you will want for nothing." Loki's voice was almost pleading, and it wasn't difficult to see that he craved company more than he tried let on. I wanted desperately to give in to him and spend the rest of my life with him, but I did have other commitments, and I couldn't give up on my race.

"I can't. Seriously, Loki. I just...these are my _people_. This is...my home." He raised an eyebrow, and I remembered one of our many debates about where our homes were. I had clearly said that I don't consider anywhere to be my home. "Well, maybe not exactly my _home_, but it's as close as anywhere has ever gotten to being so. I couldn't stand being hated by all these people because I'm your ally."

"But they wouldn't hate me, or you! They would be eternally grateful to me for pulling them out of the hell they're going through now!"

"Yeah, a hell of your making! You made them do this, and they won't forget that! I'm sorry, Loki. Perhaps if you called off this attack and asked me again in better circumstances, then my answer would be different. As it is..." I shrugged helplessly. His eyes bored into mine, and try as I might, I couldn't look away. We stared at each other for...I honestly can't say how long for. He raised a hand and the blue light faded from the door.

"You're free to leave, Lily." I smiled at him sadly and made for the door. His voice stopped me. "But know that if you leave now, we are enemies. The next time we meet, I will not offer you preferential treatment, and I will hold you in the same light as I hold the rest of the _Avengers_." He paused, holding a finger up thoughtfully. "In fact, I almost respect _them_, as they are firm in their beliefs. I will hold no such respect for you, as you will have betrayed both them and myself. Your resolve is weak, and you think of yourself above others." His words were like knives in my back. I hesitated with my hand on the door. Again, this was a decision that should have been easy. The good of the planet and everyone on it...or him. The ashamed God of Mischief and Lies. Thor had always warned me that it was easy to fall for his charms, and what did I do? Exactly what he, and so many others had warned me against. I sighed, hitting my head against the doorframe in frustration. I leant against it as I turned back to him, and I did nothing to stop the tears overflowing from my eyes.

"I'd rather be hated by one person than by an entire race. Especially so if that one person is so...cold hearted. As much as I lo..._like_ you Loki, and care for you...I can't." He nodded gravely, his face looking like it was set in stone. I sighed and crossed the room back to him, putting my hands on his shoulders and kissing him again. This kiss was different to the ones before – they were criminal, and dangerous, and tasted like happiness and rebellion. This time, his lips tasted like sadness and goodbyes, and I really didn't want it to end. We separated and just _looked_ at each other. He inhaled shakily and pressed his lips to my forehead, wrapping his arms around me as my tears dropped onto his goddamn freaking breastplate. I sniffled and pulled away, wiping my eyes and putting on a brave face.

"I hope for both our sakes that our paths never cross again." He said and I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. All of a sudden, I couldn't keep my emotions in check anymore and I ran from the room, flying through the doors and down three flights of stairs without looking back. I reached the first floor landing and stopped, falling against a wall. I pulled my knees up to my chin and hugged them, crying. I cried for what Loki and I were, what we could be and the future that I had just thrown away. I cried for him and for his choices, and I cried for all the people he was controlling, and I cried for _myself_, because despite all my cautions, I had fallen for the god, _hard._ Eventually, the tears dried up and I sniffed. I had to move on. I carefully blocked all memories of our kisses, of all the companionship he had offered, all the _good_ memories I had of him. I brought to mind the Loki from my dream, the cold, callous god who revelled in death and slaughter. I stood up shakily, wiping the last of the tears from my cheeks and walked down the remaining stairs calmly.

I pushed myself round the revolving doors and stepped out into the fading sunlight. I turned my phone back on and winced as message after message after missed call after voicemail popped up. I'd been gone about two and a half hours. Damn. I was going to get _murdered_. I began jogging back towards our base, much less wary of seeing the Avengers now I was returning to them. A red haired woman was fighting in the road ahead of me and I kept my head down as she effectively knocked out about four people all at once. She looked up and saw me.

"Hey!" I sighed and stopped. She approached me. "Aren't you...the others are going mad looking for you!" I rolled my eyes. I don't think she recognised me as the girl whose parents she assassinated, but I couldn't be sure. Her eyes widened. "Are you okay? You look a little freaked...have you been crying?" I took in her frazzled appearance – dirty smears across her face, ripped leather down one arm, her hair looking like some sort of ginger afro. I smirked.

"Well, I just snogged the God of Mischief and Lies...what's your excuse?" Her mouth dropped open and I saluted her jokingly as I sprinted for the base, hoping that her shock would paralyse her for long enough that I got there before her.

**~Natasha POV~**

Snogged the God of Mischief. That...no, I must have heard that wrong. That was...entirely ludicrous and unbelievable, and that _can't_ have been what she said. Heard it wrong, definitely.

Shit, I did not hear that wrong.

"Come in guys. I've found her – she's running back towards base. She is not to be trusted, I repeat, NOT to be trusted, she's been fraternising with Loki." I hurried after her as affirmative responses filtered through my earpiece. As I followed her, I got a sudden sense of déjà vu; running after a blonde girl who had just caught me by surprise – not many people had ever managed to do that. I stopped dead.

_How could I have been so stupid?_

Lily. The girl from six years ago. The Martins. She's been going by Lily Girling for the past _six_ years...

She was the girl who ran away from me before. She was the girl who had completely dropped off S.H.I.E. radar within two minutes of us finding out about her, the girl who the nearly empty 'Lily Martin' file belonged to.

I had killed her parents, and then let her flee. She'd been living on her own for the past six years after seeing her parents' bodies lying on her kitchen floor.

No wonder she was messed up in the head.

**Threw in a little Tasha POV there to round things up nicely – told you it'd be short. Hope you liked it, reviewers win...my awesome stripy socks. If you ask nicely, I'll even wash them for you.**

**KAY THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG NOTE SORRY!**

**33 reviews on the last chapter. THIRTY FREAKING THREE. I fell off my chair when I saw how many I had. Seriously. Thank you guys. I still reply to all the reviews I get, so don't hesitate to ask questions and suchlike!**

**There were a couple of things I wanted to highlight. **

**First, **_**EvilsApprentice**_** pointed out that it seemed a little implausible for Lily to be able to waltz in and see Loki – surely he would've had a guard or something? How I see it, the transmitter (as well as making everyone fight) is making everyone stay away from Loki, and he is capable of defending himself if someone got curious. As Lily wasn't there when the transmission began, this doesn't affect her. Should've have put that in the chapter, sorry, my bad...**

_**0x0UnderDog0x0**_** also left a freaking EPIC review which I couldn't reply to, as they have PM disabled, but I wanted to share its awesomeness with you guys and also say thank you for it!  
**_**'**__**Internal Monologue  
OMG MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE! LOKI WHY YOU BE SO MEEEEEEEAN? JUST PLAY NICE FOR ONCE! YOU ARE LOOOVED STOP BEING A BUTT HOLE PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE! OMG NEXT CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER-  
End of Internal Monologue.  
Hey, i really like this story, you should keep on writing it. Don't stop just when it gets good like a lot of other people do. Anyways, Lily's awesome and...TEAM LOKI FOR LIFE'  
**_**She did a freaking internal monologue, guys. Internal monologue.**

**And finally, **_**BVBLover4ever**_** suggested I have Lily say the following in the chapter. Unfortunately I couldn't make it work, but it's amazing, so I wanted to show you peoples.  
**_**'**__**As much as I'd love to say yes, I can't, because this is not right Loki, I may not know you well but I know what it's like to be alone and you don't deserve a life like this, you are a voice that has been standing in a room filled with people, screaming at the top of their lungs, dying to be heard. But this is not the way to do it, this is NOT how you want to be heard, PLEASE, just let it go!'**_

**Okay, sorry for the obscenely long note. Won't happen again (until the epilogue, hahahaa). Kthxbai.**


	13. Chapter 13

**13**

**Unlucky number! Another filler chapter to get between the scenes of awesome I have in my head. I THINK that there will be two more chapters and an epilogue. BUT I'M NOT SURE! I always set myself these deadlines and then get really wordy, and before I know it I'm on chapter 298123983. And Barton is a bit of a bitch in this chapter. I'm SORRY, I know that Renner is an absolute...kitten of adorableness...but I had to put someone in the Avengers against Lily!**

I sprinted up the stairs and into the room where Banner and Jane had been before I left. I felt a twinge of guilt when I realised I'd left Jane on her own with someone who turned into a huge green monster of rage, but when I saw them both looking fine (if a little stressed), the guilt subsided. I then fully looked round the room and saw nearly all the Avengers (barring Natasha) standing there looking really angry and mistrustful, and wondered whether I should go hide in a corner.

Okay, wait, I lied. Thor just looked relieved.

"Lily! You fool! He could have killed you! Why would you do something like that without informing one of us of your plans so that we could protect you?" The god crossed the room and put his hands on my shoulders, staring at me intently. I blushed involuntarily, thinking of exactly what it was I had been _doing_...

"I'm fine, Thor, I promise. I just...I had to go, and he would never have spoken to me if all you guys were standing outside the door. I have information." The superheroes began talking over each other in an attempt to ask me numerous questions, but a clear voice cut over them all.

"Don't. She can't be trusted anymore." Everyone in the room turned collectively to the doorway where Natasha was standing, her gun aimed directly at me. Thor stepped away from me in shock and I raised my hands above my head.

"Natasha, it's not what it seems like, I swear." She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at me (question: if she spent her whole time focussed on being a badass, how come she looks so...perfect?).

"Oh yeah? Care to explain to everyone why you just spent two hours with Loki, who might I remind the room, is our _enemy_, and who you apparently were 'snogging', to use your choice of words?" I slumped as the room burst into questions again, some confused, others furious. Thor stared at me, and I got an overwhelming sense of disappointment from his gaze.

"Lily? Is what she says true?" Stark's face mask flipped up and I saw him narrow his eyes at me. I sighed, and alarmingly found myself swallowing back tears.

"I err...haven't been exactly straight with you guys. But if you allow me to, I swear I'll explain everything now, and I won't leave anything out intentionally." Natasha's gun was still pointed at me, and I could see Barton's finger flexing around his bow. Steve (bless him) stepped forward.

"It would be unfair to not hear you out." I smiled at him and half sat, half collapsed against a wall. Jane was sat opposite me, next to Banner, who was looking at me intently. I really didn't want to make him angry. Although admittedly, him Hulking would probably get the rest of the Hero Brigade off my back. Then again, he'd probably aim straight for me...yeah; I wasn't going to upset him.

"Right, well, first things first...and don't just flip at me for this part, Thor knew about it too...my job on Asgard wasn't primarily working on and with the Tesseract." I suddenly remembered Koli's apparent betrayal, and my hands clenched into fists impulsively. "My errrrm...I was...okay, I'm just going to come out with it. My main job was to regularly visit Loki in his cell to stop him from going even madder through loneliness. My reasoning was that if he was left in solitude, then...well, the only thing worse than a scheming Loki is an insane scheming Loki. Thor okayed that, and I visited him nearly every day for over two months without incident." Thor raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay, he slapped me once because he was mad that his wife just divorced him." Still with the quirked eyebrow. "And I passed out in his room once, but that's because I caught a virus thing. ANYWAY," I looked pointedly at the god. "-that's what my main job on Asgard was. I wanted to do something worthwhile with my life, and if I'm honest, Loki seemed like the ultimate charity case." I was uncomfortably aware of the gun still being levelled at me by Natasha, but I pressed on regardless. "That's pretty much why I went to see him today. I thought that he might listen to me. And even if he didn't...he didn't, by the way...I thought I could at least get him to tell me his plans – without him realising, obviously."

"And?" Stark pressed.

"Loki's going to spread the transmission across the Earth, and use the fighting to weed out the strong from the weak, apparently. He'll use those who are left to make Earth like, the strongest planet and then move onto Asgard and Jotunheim and the rest of the realms. I found out who helped him escape, Thor."

"Who?" He asked, intrigued.

"Koli. I don't know how, but it was him. Apparently he told him exactly how to set up the transmitter and everything." Thor sighed angrily. "I know."

"You still haven't told us everything, Lily." Natasha snapped. She turned to the others. "I found her as she was running back. I asked her if she was alright, because she looked a little freaked, and she replied 'I just snogged the God of Mischief, what's your excuse?'. How can she explain that? She's _with_ him, she probably always has been!"

"No, I'm not!" I protested. "Yes, I kissed him, I admit. More than once. And maybe a little enthusiastically. It just _happened_, okay? These things do. He..." I hesitated, feeling Thor's eyes on me. "He asked me to stay with him. 'Become his Queen', were his exact words." I felt the colour rising in my cheeks as I squirmed. "But I said no. I told him that I'd rather be hated by him than by the entire human race and I left. I know that I was irresponsible, and probably more than a little stupid and naive, but I had to _try_. God knows I'm the only person who even had a hope in hell of making him see reason." Natasha's hands wavered. "Any questions?"

"Yeah..." Stark put his hand up. "Was the kissing any good?" I blushed furiously as my jaw dropped. "I'm being serious! You did something wrong for the right reasons, it would suck if you didn't get anything enjoyable out of it."

"Tony, just shut up, will ya?" Banner said tiredly and I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly.

"Sure thing, Doc, the colour of her cheeks answered my question for her anyway." I grabbed an empty can from the floor and lobbed it at his head. "Nah uh uh, sunshine, don't do that." I glared at him, my cheeks feeling hotter than ever.

"I told you that he would influence you, Lily. Why would you go after him when you are so clearly under his control?" Thor looked...sad. And betrayed. I felt awful. Knowing him, he had probably found some warped way of blaming himself.

"I'm not under his control. I went after him because I wanted to try and talk to him, and because...I just needed to do the best I could, because part of the reason he's doing all this is me. If I was under his control, I'd still be with him now." There was a prolonged silence before Natasha broke it by putting her gun back in its holster. I breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Now, can we move on from my stupidity and work out how we're going to stop the bastard?"

"I'm not sure you should be here anymore, Lily. For all you say that you aren't under his control, he's clearly compromised you because you kissed him." Steve looked at me.

"Saying that I kissed him is kinda taking it out of context..."

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not..." I grinned sheepishly. "Are you going to send me back, then?"

"I feel like that is the best thing for you." Half of Steve's mouth turned up in an adorable sympathetic smile...

Okay, from now on, I am going to be blind to all good looking men, because that's exactly what got me in this mess in the first place. I refuse to notice how cute Steve looks when he smiles like that, and how _fiiiinneeee_ his arse is in Spandex, and how muscley Barton and Thor's arms are and how big and brown and sparkly Tony's eyes are and...oh buggery bollocks.

"Why don't we vote on it? From where I'm standing, there's no reason for her leaving. She was trying to help us, and yes, she may have made out with the God of Mischief, but she's here, isn't she?" Tony grinned at me and I resisted the urge to flip him the finger.

"How do we know that she isn't Loki's spy? She could sit here, listening to all our plans and then run off to him and squeal." Barton's eyes were hard and stony.

"Um, I am still here, you know? Just because you've had issues with Loki in the past..." I mumbled sulkily and Barton stood up furiously, causing Natasha to put a restraining hand on his chest.

"We'll vote on it." She said firmly. Robin Hood's lips tightened and he sat back down. "All those in favour of Lily being returned to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters..." Barton's hand was the first up. Steve's followed soon after – he sent me an apologetic look as he did. Banner's hand also went up. "In favour of her staying here?" Tony actually stood up and flew a couple of feet into the air in the effort of stretching his hand the highest (dweeb). Thor put his hand up, albeit hesitantly (which I was quite surprised at, actually. And a little insulted. Grrr). Jane looked unsure as she raised her own hand and I smiled at her. My eyes widened as Natasha raised her hand as well, and I gawped at her as she spoke. "Lily stays. But you'll be under close observation, got it?"

"Yeah." I said faintly. Her face softened minutely.

"I figured I owe you this much after what I did. Really, it's my fault you were ever in the position of wanting to do something better with your life and choosing Loki as your Good Samaritan case. I should never have let you run away." I smiled at her.

"I forgave you a long time ago for that...although admittedly smacking you in the face would feel pretty good...don't worry, I'll restrain myself-" _for now_. "After seeing S.H.I.E.L.D's file on my parents, I can see why their deaths were ordered." She nodded once before turning away. Well...that went...marginally better than I had anticipated. Steve crossed the room quickly and knelt in front of me (ooooh, hello pecs...NO, STOP IT LILY!)

"Please don't take my vote the wrong way. I only had you in mind. I thought that you would be better off away from here so you weren't forced to make a difficult decision in a crisis." I smiled at him sadly.

"Steve, thank you for your concern, but I already made the difficult decision." He said nothing, (although I knew my reference to Loki's offer wasn't misunderstood), but patted my knee comfortingly before moving away.

"Okay team, now that little issue has been resolved..." Tony waggled his eyebrows at me, and this time, I _did_ flip him the finger. "...let's make a plan."

**~X~**

"So are we all clear?" Steve looked at each one of us in turn. We nodded. "We need to get this right, because we will not get another chance. Banner, why don't you talk us through it? Everyone needs to know exactly what they're doing." The doc sighed.

"You, Tasha and Clint will lure Loki onto the streets. Jane and Lily will be down there to distract him enough to keep him there. Thor, Tony and the other guy will try and destroy the transmitter. If we're having problems, you will come up and help us. The main thing is to keep Loki away from it somehow. We smash the transmitter, people get their minds back and Loki is taken back to Asgard to be put on trial." He recited wearily. Steve nodded.

"Good. Jane, Lily, how will you keep him on the streets with Clint and Natasha's help?"

"Taunt him. Like, throw things at his face and then hide so he doesn't know who did it." Jane grinned.

"I'll just yell at him while not letting him see me." I smiled ruefully. "That will annoy him. And then he'll want to find me to bitch slap me or something, and hopefully, he won't realise that the other half of the Hero Brigade are up on the roof smashing the transmitter."

"I get the feeling you girls aren't taking this very seriously." Barton sniffed. Jane looked at him.

"It's better that we joke about it than be so serious about it that we end up panicking, Clint." Jane said apologetically. He scoffed and shook his head at us.

"Alright, Barton, calm down, not all of us are trained S.H.I.E.L.D agents!" I retorted and he glared at me.

"If you're involved in this, then you _should_ be. But I was outvoted, so I'll just have to deal with it, won't I? I hope I'm not going to have to haul your sorry asses out of trouble, that's all." I rolled my eyes.

"They're capable of taking care of themselves, Clint. Leave them be." Natasha said softly and he sighed, but sat back down. I was never going to get used to this whole Tasha-is-sticking-up-for-us thing.

"We're good then?" Steve asked.

"Yes, Captain Underpants, we're good. Let's get this party started!" Tony stood up a little _too_ enthusiastically, and I could tell he was itching for a good fight. Steve looked out of the smashed window.

"There's no point in going for it now, it's too late. Loki said he wasn't able to spread the signal for another couple of days, so we'll go tomorrow after we've rested up. There's no point in walking into battle when you're ready to drop." Steve literally deflated.

"Fine. Where's the food? And if we're staying here tonight, then God knows I'm going to need a drink."

**This chapter wasn't really working for me, so imma leave it there and just go straight to the juicy bit in the next one. PREPARE FOR DRAMA. Also maybe angst. Okay, definitely some angst. I'm very looking forward to writing it, because I am an evil person.**

**Reviewers win...love. Yes. Review and I will love you. I will love you like...Hiddlestoners love the ehehe. Yeah. Like dat. I ALREADY HAVE 200 REVIEWS WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?**


	14. Chapter 14

**14**

**This will be rather (read: incredibly) long, and will either be made of awesome, or will seriously increase world suck. Derp.**

I rolled over, recoiling as sunlight hit my face. Groggily, I sat up, holding my hand in front of my eyes to block the light and stretched, feeling very acutely the pain that a night spent sleeping on the floor inflicted. I looked around the room. Thor and Jane were curled up together, as were Barton and Natasha (hmmm, didn't think they were _actually_ an item...just, ya know...sexual tension and longing). Steve was lying by the wall, his shield only a couple of centimetres away from his fingers. Banner was leaning against the wall a few metres down from Steve, his head dropped back as he snored lightly (tee hee). I rubbed my face and looked behind me.

Oh crap. I had spent the night sleeping next to Tony. From the looks of it (not that I remember), I had been using his arm as a pillow for some portion of that time. I frowned as dim memories of...Tony and I passing a bottle of amber liquid back and forth...surfaced. My eyes lighted on a couple of empty glass bottles discarded in the corner of the room. Did we really drink that much...no, I remember Thor drank quite a bit too...in fact, pretty much everyone had some...think me and Tony had quite a lot though...

I have never been so glad that I had a very high alcohol tolerance level.

Typical of the Avengers to get pissed before a big fight. I mean...why the hell not? I nudged Tony and he flapped a hand at me, clearly disorientated.

"Go 'way, Pepper, I'm sleeping..." He mumbled.

"Wakey wakey, Stark. Big day and all that." I poked him again and he eventually opened his eyes.

"Lily...what the...crap, we got hammered, didn't we?" I nodded. "We didn't..." He gestured between us and I shook my head furiously.

"No, god no...least I don't think we did..." The look on his face was priceless. "I'm kidding, we didn't. I slept here, you slept there, and that's it." He sighed in relief. "Shall I wake the others?" He nodded, yawning hugely **(AN: I cannot write about yawning without yawning. Jesus.)**

"I'll go find some water. I get the feeling it'll be needed." I grinned and scrambled to my feet. _Please let the Hero Brigade be morning people, I don't think I could handle being on the business end of a gun this early..._

**~X~**

We stood in the doorway of our building, looking out into the currently empty streets. Steve was saying something about how it was good that no one was out yet, it meant that no civilians would be caught in the cross fire, so we could be a lot meaner to Loki, but I wasn't really listening. I'd never been in like, a _major_ fight before. It occurred to me that I could very easily die today. As could any of these people...most of them were only human. I wondered who would still be standing by evening...

_No. Stop it Lily. Positive thoughts. Puppies. Cake. Chocolate. British actors._

"Right then. Clint, Tasha, you're with me. We'll go entice Loki down from his nest, and when we've got him on ground level, Tony, Bruce, Thor – get that transmitter out of action. Jane, Lily, wait down here, one of us will send you a message when Loki's on the streets." I exchanged a look with Jane, who was clutching hold of one of her guns with both hands – luckily for her, she was a natural with it (which could be seen as concerning), as I'd only had ten minutes to teach her how to use it. We nodded in unison. "Okay. Good luck, and I hope to see you later." Steve beckoned the lovebirds and they ran off in the direction of the tower. Tony clicked his mask into place.

"I'll meet you two at the base of Casa de Loki. Doc, might be time to start thinking about getting angry." Banner smiled.

"You forgot, Tony. I'm always angry."

"Right you are."

"Doctor, might I ask that you refrain from getting too angry until we are near the transmitter? From my experience, your alter ego does not appear to like me very much." Banner's smile widened.

"If you insist, Thor, I'm sure I can hold him back a little while longer." I grinned. Thor turned to Jane and I.

"You two be careful." I was about to say something very witty and hilarious, but Jane beat me to it.

"Our middle names are Careful. We'll be fine." I looked at her.

"Actually, my middle names are Sarah and Sybil, but yeah, sure, careful works." I conceded. Thor's eyes twinkled at us.

"Look after each other." We nodded obediently and he dropped a kiss on my forehead and one on Jane's lips (somehow with her standing next to me, my hyperventilation over Thor's hotness was somewhat subdued).

"Look after yourself." Jane said earnestly, and he kissed her lightly again. We watched them walk off in the direction of the transmitter, and then looked at each other.

"You're blushing." I commented.

"Shut up." Her mutter only made me grin.

"Have I already told you that it's cute? It's cute Jane, real cutes." I teased and she jokingly pointed the gun at me. "Woah, watch where you put that thing!"

**~X~**

"Jane, Lily, come in." My earpiece buzzed and I exchanged a glance with Jane as I pressed it and answered.

"Lily here, Tasha."

"He's no longer on the tower, he's headed about half a block to the west of you. Get ready to intercept."

"Rodger that." I smirked at Jane. "How do you feel about reindeer hunting?" She frowned at me quizzically. "The horns. Reindeer."

"Oooohhhh!" She exclaimed and I laughed. I double check that my guns were loaded and we ran. After only a few hundred metres, I saw a tell-tale glow of blue light from round a corner. I signalled to Jane that we should stop and pressed myself against a building, edging to the corner and peeking round. Loki was staring at something I couldn't see in disgust. I took careful aim, ignored my conscience that was _screaming_ at me and let a bullet ricochet off the tip of one of his horns. He whirled around and I hid behind the wall again.

I whispered to Jane, "Wait for Tasha or someone to regain his attention and then get across to the other side of the road." She nodded wordlessly and I relayed the plan to Tasha. She murmured an affirmative, and I heard a loud call.

"Hey, Loki, I still owe you an arrow in the eye, don't I?" Loki looked in what he _thought_ was the direction of Barton's shout but I saw the archer run across the road to the opposite side. I felt a hand close around my throat and spun around to see a complete stranger snarling at me. I didn't hesitate to flip him over my head and deliver a powerful kick to the jaw, rendering him unconscious. Now was not the time for games. Jane sprinted across the street and fired a couple of shots at the building next to the god, smashing a couple of windows. He started in her direction, intent on finding out who was there but was rudely interrupted by a stars'n'stripes shield smacking into the back of his knees and knocking him to the floor. I winced on his behalf. That looked painful. Then I remembered I wasn't supposed to be feeling sorry for him and shook myself. Dammit, this was harder than I thought.

"You realise that I know what you're doing, right?" Loki called as he stumbled to his feet. "Do you really think I would have left the transmitter if I thought you stood a chance of destroying it? You forget that I am a god. I know most of what goes through your puny human minds, and I plan my actions accordingly." I pulled a face at Jane, who stuck her tongue out in return. Barton, Tasta and the good Captain stepped out into Loki's view and approached him.

"You two girls stay where you are." Barton's low voice crackled through our earpieces as his lips barely moved.

"We hoped to defeat you like we did before." Steve commented lightly and Loki chuckled.

"If I remember correctly, the last time I was over-powered, it was your mutant friend who did the deed. You three are simply human." I zoned out of the exchange slightly as I saw a discarded megaphone in a doorway across the road.

Before long I was stationed in a second floor window, the glass of which had been smashed out some time previously, the megaphone pressed to my lips. I took a deep breath.

"Yooooo hoooooo!" I called. My voice echoed around the street and Loki looked up in alarm. He couldn't see me behind the high window sill and I grinned to myself.

"_Lily, what are you doing?_" Tasha's furious whisper broke into my hearing. I pulled the loudspeaker away from my mouth to reply.

"Our job is to distract him. I'm doing exactly that." I spoke through the megaphone again. "How you doing down there, lover?" My booming voice had given me confidence, and I found myself saying things that normally would belong in my internal monologue and _only_ in my internal monologue.

"Not too bad, Lily. And yourself?" Loki's voice was faint in comparison to mine and I could see his eyes scanning the buildings for me.

"Could be better, could be worse. Spent last night drinking with Iron Man, which certainly was an enlightening experience."

"I'm sure it was. I was offered the chance once, but turned it down."

"Mmmm-hmmm." I aimed my gun at an opposite office block and fired, causing the bullet to rebound from the wall. Loki spun around in the direction that he _thought_ the bullet had come from and my delighted laugh resonated around the near deserted street. "Oh, I'm sorry, hon, did that surprise you? The lovely gents at S.H.I.E.L.D gave me two somewhat fabulous guns, and I'm rather fond of them." He grimaced.

"Where are you, Lily, my dear?" For all my flippant nature and his sarcasm, the endearment still sent shivers down my side. I fired a few bullets at random corners of the street, interspersing each shot with a 'Over here!' or an 'Oops, my bad, I'm over here!'. After a couple of these wild shots, Jane got the hint and joined it, leaving Loki all the more confused. I giggled again.

"Oh Loki sweetheart, I'm sorry, are you getting a little confuzzled? Do you need an ickle lie down?" I spoke as though to a child and he gave a strained laugh that was cut off quickly by a bullet knocking his helmet from his head.

"Enough with this." He snarled and his hands started glowing with that blue power again. He turned on the three Avengers who had been standing there, bemused at mine and Loki's exchange and fired a stream of icy blueness at them. Barton dived out of the way, and Steve sheltered Natasha with his shield as the circle took the brunt of the blow. Looksies like Clint has a little competition for dear Tasha...hahaha.

"Awwwwh, now Loki, that's not nice." I said through the loudspeaker. He fired another shot at a random building and half of the apartment block's side blew out. Hmmmm.

"Did I get you, Lily? No? Oh well, there's plenty more buildings I can try. It's only a matter of time before I find you." Yeah, perhaps now would be a good time to get back on the ground.

"Game on." I muttered down the speaker and ran for my goddamn life. I hurtled down the stairs, thanking the 8 years of ballet lessons that I didn't end up flat on my face and praying that my dancer's poise would be enough to counteract my perpetual clumsiness. I sped out of the front door and skidded to a halt. In front of me, there were a large crowd fighting. And then, they all noticed me. At the same time. Bloody typical. "Oh, uhh...hi there. How are you today?" I smiled at them. They ran for me. "Awwwwh, shit." I turned and fled, heading towards the street that Loki, Jane and half the Hero Brigade were on. "Guys, we got incoming. Heads up." I tore around the corner and found myself wishing that Loki had decided that Zombie Apocalypse was a good idea. Zombies would be a lot slower than these guys were, and I would feel a helluva lot less guilty about shooting them. I ran past Loki and towards Tasha, who was staring at the hoard of people in a similar way to which she'd stare at a bird who had just shat on her. The difference being, she'd probably shoot the bird.

"Hey guys." I came to a slightly breathless stop next to them and searched the street for Jane. "How's it going down here?" Barton just gave me a disparaging look.

"Well, your...taunting certainly did nothing for Loki's mood." Tasha said lightly.

"Mmmm, well, I'd say he's sufficiently distracted now." I nodded towards the crowd running at him. "Where's Jane?"

"She went back to the base. Something about contacting S.H.I.E.L.D for something." I rolled my eyes.

"What did she do with her guns?"

"Take them with her." Of course. I took out the nearly empty round from my handgun and replaced it, taking hold of my second gun with my other hand. Loki turned to us, somehow holding back the crowd of people. _His mind control_. He was still their puppeteer even away from the transmitter.

"I'll leave you to my friends." He smiled at the four of us, before his gaze turned directly to me. "I told you that I hoped we wouldn't meet again."

"I know." I grinned at him, trying to conceal the turmoil of emotions I was currently experiencing. "Just can't get rid of me, can you, sweetie?"

"Oh, I could." His voice was low and dangerous and I had to stop myself from taking a step back. "But I do not want your blood on my hands." Steve shot me a look – clearly checking whether I was about to go running into the god's arms.

"Likewise." I answered. My face hardened. "But I'll take it." I lifted my guns and fired several shots in quick succession at his infernal breastplate. He stumbled back into the crowd and they all made a grab for him before his mind control was reasserted. He supported himself on all fours, coughing. Eventually, he looked up at me, his eyes dark.

"They're all yours." He murmured and the mob surged forward. I quickly lost sight of Loki in the chaos that ensued. I lost sight of Barton and Steve too. Tasha stayed by my side before she was pulled away by someone. I fought people off blindly, hitting them with the butt of my gun, shooting a few in places I knew to be non-life threatening, trying to retreat. I fell over and was nearly smothered by the people who jumped on me. I pushed them all off and lurched to my feet, staggering away as fast as I could. I needed to get to 'Casa de Loki', in the words of Stark. I honestly didn't know how far I'd get. I was brought to the floor again and I cried out.

**~X~**

I don't know how long I was fighting for. All I know is that suddenly, the people baying for my blood lost interest in me and turned on each other. I looked up and realised I was at the base of the building with the transmitter on the top. The people seemed blind to the tower, and I realised that Loki must be protecting himself from them. That meant he was here. I dragged myself through the door and paused to take an inventory of my injuries. Several broken fingers, a long cut down one arm, a gash in my leg, bruises covering pretty much every part of my body. Gaaaahhh. That was going to sting in the morning...if I made it to the morning. I pulled my jacket and shirt off, putting the hoodie back on as I tore the shirt into strips to wrap around the injuries. Okay. Onwards and upwards.

Finally, I pushed through a door and found myself on the roof. Hulk (ooooh, heyy good lookin'...no, not really. Ugly bastard) and Thor were raining blows on the transmitter, but it didn't seem to do anything of use. Iron Man was studying a screen intently and I could see him programming from here, obviously trying to cheat his way into making the broadcast stop. I looked across the roof and saw Loki standing at the opposite of it to me and the transmitter, hands clasped behind his back, smiling.

"Do you give up yet?" I ducked my head slightly, hoping that he wouldn't see me. Tony looked up and cursed when he saw the god.

"No, not yet, dear." He said distractedly.

"Well, I am going to have to hurry you, unfortunately. As amusing as it is to watch to slave over my device, it is almost ready to extend its reach, and I must prime it." Loki sauntered towards them and I tensed.

"Well, why don't you tell me how to prime it and I'll err...do it for you." Tony tore his eyes away from the screen and smirked at the god quickly. Loki laughed.

"As much as I would love to give you the key to the transmitter, it requires a much more _sophisticated_ touch than a _human_ such as yourself could ever deliver."

"Ooooh, ouch. I'm offended." Tony frowned at the display panel. Loki was now only a few metres away from the pylon, and Hulk turned around and glared at him. He growled menacingly at Loki before attacking the transmitter with renewed gusto. I could see now that every time Thor or Hulk came within a few inches of touching the device, a blue glow emanated from the point of near-contact and repelled their blows. My gaze flicked between Loki and half of the Avengers and I cursed under my breath.

"Hello again." I said as I stepped out from my hiding place. He stopped in his tracks and considered me.

"Lily." He acknowledged. I walked across the roof towards him, trying not to take note of just how high up we were, and how exposed to the elements we were and oh my God I'm going to fall of the roof, I just know it...

"I...okay, if I'm going to be honest, I don't really know what to say. I didn't really have much time to think out this master plan, so I'm just going to wing it, alright?" He smiled sincerely. As far as I knew, I was the only person to make him smile in that way, and it made me...sad.

"As you wish, my dear." I stopped in front of him and studied his face carefully.

"So are you going to kill me then? You said that when we next met we'd be enemies, and you'd dislike me even more than them lot." I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder.

"I never said I would _dislike_ you, Lily. I merely said I would have very little respect for you. Unfortunately, I feel that it would be impossible for me to dislike you." He conceded and a wide grin spread over my face.

"Awwwh, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Loki!" I cooed. "Actually, wait..." I tapped my finger to my lips. "You said you were attracted to me. That was pretty nice too." We laughed in harmony, and it was so clichéd that I vomited a little in my mouth. "Okay, seriously though, Loki, just turn the thingymabob off. You've got to have some sort of master button right? You know, that shuts it down?" He sighed.

"It is hardly that simple, and besides, why would I? I am so close now..." I gazed into his eyes, searching for some sign of remorse and found very little.

"Why would you? Well, I would say for _me_, but I don't think that would mean much to you."

"You do mean a lot to me, Lily." I blinked. Certainly wasn't expecting _that_ admission...but it made my job easier, and my plan a lot clearer. If I could just...you know, refrain from jumping on him and snogging his face off...

"If you turn it off now, before it spreads, then you won't be put to death. I'll ensure it. You'll be imprisoned again, probably more restrained than before, I admit, but I'll continue to visit you, and who knows..." I tapped his chest, avoiding his eyes. "Perhaps we would be able to err...define our..._relationship_...a little better." I finally met his staring eyes and I could see that he was well aware of what I was offering. Did they have _girlfriends_ on Asgard? Or were they called escorts or something trashy like that?

"Are you saying that..."

"Don't make me spell it out for you, Loki. I told you before that if the circumstances were different, my answer to _that_ question would be too. I can't deny that there is _something_ between us, and neither can you. We made that pretty clear yesterday." I raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed. I fought the urge to look over my shoulder to see how the Avengers were doing – Loki appeared to have forgotten their presence and I didn't want to remind him.

"What about if I was defeated? If I did not surrender but was overpowered? What would you do then?" His voice was soft, but urgent.

"It would depend on your sentencing. If you were to be executed...there would be very little I could do. Give up now, and I may be able to sway the court." I was being presumptuous, but I was desperate. Even if I couldn't stop Loki, I was buying time for the Avengers, and god knows they needed it. "Loki, you're doing this because you've been standing in Thor's shadow for so long and you want to be noticed, but trust me, Loki, this is not the way you want to do this. End it, and I may be persuaded to believe that there is still hope for you." His mouth moved silently, as if he was arguing with himself, or trying to form coherent sentences to no avail. Eventually, he managed to form a simple word.

"Okay." My mouth dropped open.

"Wait, what?" I couldn't believe it.

"Okay. I will stop the attack." My eyes were like saucers and my eyebrows had disappeared somewhere under my fringe..._dammit, lost them again, come back!_ "It is my willpower repelling your _friends_. I will stop, and they can destroy the transmitter." I gawped at him.

"Seriously? Oh...alri...alright then. Go for it, I'll just go..." I pointed towards them and he nodded. I cautiously started making my way to them, turning away from him, but a blue glow in my peripheral vision gave me the sense that something was amiss. I heard a mischievous laugh, a laugh that I had heard many times but had never dreaded hearing as much as I did now. I looked back at Loki, whose hands were in front of him, aiming the blue light at the Avengers, who were still slaving away over the transmitter. Time slowed down as the light began streaming from his palms and I reacted instinctively. I sprinted back across the roof, and the light hit me square in the centre of my chest. I dropped to my knees, and the last thing I was Loki's horrified face as the radiance faded into nothing but blackness.

**Angst. Angst. Angst like WOAH coming in the next chapter. Reviewers win...a trip in the TARDIS to wherever they want to go. I'm like **_**this**_** with the Doctor *crosses fingers***


	15. Chapter 15

**15**

***sobs* I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THESE CHARACTERS, OKAY? Note – for the first time I will include the use of 3****rd**** person POV: suckish, but necessary (I would use Loki POV, but I don't think I could manage **_**that**_** level of badassery). **

**I suggest that you listen to 21 Guns while you read this (preferably the American Idiot cast version as opposed to the Green Day original) for maximum feels. I had it on repeat as I wrote this, it just seems so appropriate. Link - (my tumblr - s0changeable) (slash) post/25239710226/**

A cold, burning sensation in the centre of my chest. Every breath felt like knives stabbing through my torso and I could feel the blood dragging itself through my veins sluggishly and uncomfortably. My entire body felt cemented to the ground beneath me and a high pitched ringing in my ears rendered my world all but silent.

The unconscious reprieve couldn't last though. The whining in my ears faded so that I could hear shouts, and the blackness behind my eyelids gave way to a pinkish light. I coughed, gasping for breath as a fresh wave of pain hit me, and my eyes opened in alarm. My vision swam before me and I could see vague shapes, gradually moving into focus. I groaned and my head flopped to the side. I saw black shoes a few inches away from my face and frowned. I squinted at I looked up and saw Loki, standing above me and staring at me with an immeasurable expression on his face. He looked absolutely tortured, but I could see in his eyes that he was restraining himself from reaching to me. I sighed, wishing I could reach to press a hand to the frostiness of my chest but finding that my limbs were too heavy to move.

"For crying out loud, Loki, no one's going to judge you-" Another stab of pain and I faltered before continuing. "-if you show a little emotion. Come down here." He frowned, but knelt on one knee by my side. I tried to position my neck so that I could see him, but it was impossible, so in one smooth movement he picked my head up and rested it on his leg, leaving one hand touching my hair. I inadvertently lent into his palm, finding a small comfort in his touch. "You're an idiot. And a mean one." He nodded morosely.

"I'm...sorry. I never meant for you to get in the way." I scoffed, wincing as it exacerbated the pain.

"No shit, Sherlock..." I muttered and he gave me a small, rueful grin. I reached for his hand, pressing it over the ice in my chest. The pain wasn't on skin level, but rather in the middle of my chest cavity, constantly spreading across my body. "Stop the attack. Don't let me...die...for nothing." He gripped my hand fiercely.

"You won't die." He insisted. I raised an eyebrow. I wasn't stupid. "I've already lowered the barriers to your _friends_. It happened without my meaning to the moment you got...hit."

"You mean the moment you shot me."

"Please don't."

"Awwwh, why not?" I coughed, my knuckles turning white as the agony rippled across my chest again. "If I'm going to die, I may as well wreak some pleasure from your emotional damage." I smirked at him, unable to stop the tear trickling from the corner of my eye.

"I wish..." He began, but I cut him off.

"Don't. Don't tell me what you wish had or hadn't happened, or what you wanted to do, or anything like that. There's no point. Just..." I smiled weakly. The pain spasmed through my body again and I flinched, unable to react anymore than that because I was so tired. "Tell me a story." I met Loki's eyes, which were stoically dry.

"Why?"

"Please." I pleaded, feeling more tears making tracks down my cheeks. He sighed and I noticed that his thumb was caressing the back of my hand. It was comforting, and nice, and the most _personal_ I had ever known him to be.

"You know of three of the realms – Midgard, Asgard and Jotunheim, the place of my birth. Obviously, there are more realms beyond these three and your people have tried to explain the make up of this universe with stars and galaxies, and tried to define the formation of them with a pivotal moment – the big boom, I think you call it?"

"Big bang." I corrected softly.

"Yes. My father..._Odin_ explained it differently to Thor and I – remember that many of the other realms are places where magic and science are so closely interwoven they cannot be separated. He told us of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, that connects each of the nice realms – Midgard, Asgard, Jotunheim, Alfheim, Hel, Muspelheim, Nidavellir, Swartalfheim and Vanaheim. Outside of the nine realms, there are two other regions – Niffleheim and Valhalla..." His voice slurred in my ears and instead I focussed on the way his eyes lit up as he spoke of the eternal life granted to the honoured death in Valhalla and the way his lips formed each individual word. My eyes were beginning to feel very heavy, but I fought to keep them open while I involuntarily shivered as the ice spread its way throughout my body.

Eventually my shivers subsided and the pain faded. He finished the story and I smiled sleepily at him.

"Thank you." I whispered and he ran a hand down the side of my face. His character – the person _I_ knew had been completely stripped away from him and he was left vulnerable and susceptible to emotion. It was heartbreaking, for me and him both. "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Good. That's good." He murmured. Each breath I took now was shallow, because I was just so _tired_ and I couldn't force my lungs to fill with oxygen.

"Loki...thank you." He frowned and tapped my chest.

"But I did this to you."

"You gave me a purpose. I managed to do something good with my life. Thank you."

"I ki- _hurt_ you, Lily."

"I was fighting for my planet and for your _good nature_. There's nothing worth fighting _for_ if it's not worth dying for." My head was spinning from the lack of oxygen, but I felt like I was safe while cradled in his arms. There was something important I had to say to him...and no, it wasn't that he was the sexiest person I had ever had the pleasure of meeting...something else... "Remember...remember you _can_ be a good person, if you try. Try for me, Loki. And know that I lov- _care_ for you a lot." I coughed and my eyes flickered shut. Each inhale was miniscule now, and I could sense myself beginning to drift away – it was a very strange sensation. I felt cold lips on my forehead and I let myself go.

**~3****rd**** POV~**

Loki could pinpoint the exact second that Lily died. Her final breath rattling in her chest, the way her face completely relaxed and her body slumping in his arms all told him that the life had left the young girl decades too soon. He drew back from her, softly dropping her head on the cold roof and sitting back on his heels. He was vaguely aware of the final crashing and splintering noise that was the destruction of his transmitter, and could even feel his control receding from the minds of the innocent. He had lost, and in spectacular fashion.

After Lily had been...after _he_ had shot Lily, he had heard Thor roar, and Stark stopping him from coming over to her, telling him that there'd be plenty of time to check that she was okay, and that this was the best opportunity they'd get at stopping the transmission. Thor would not speak to Lily again. Neither would Stark, or Loki, or anyone else.

Loki looked at her small body and a single tear dropped from his eye, freezing as it left the blue orb and bouncing off the roof tiles.

"Lily!" Thor yelled as he rushed towards the pair – the lonely God and the dead girl. He dropped to his knees besides her and put his cheek to her lips, searching uselessly for life that had already departed. He touched her forehead softly, leaning forward to kiss it in a way similar to how Loki had done so – except Thor's kiss was quick and light; the kiss of a brother or friend, whereas Loki's kiss had been longer; the kiss of something more. The larger god glared up at his adoptive brother. "You did this!" He shouted.

"I know." Loki replied simply, his eyes now dry, his face a mask. "And I regret that it happened. But aren't you pleased? You've won! I am defenceless and my transmitter in shreds. It's what you wanted, isn't it?" His voice was bitter, verging on the edge of hysteria.

"I did not want victory at such a cost." Thor stood up, facing off to his brother.

"Regardless, you have it. Look at me! A weak, pathetic god who lets his plans fall through because of nothing more than a puny human girl. You can take me, lock me up, kill me – I won't fight. I surrender, _dear brother_. I went too far. What's left to fight for?" Loki stared down at the blonde girl lying on the floor, hating her and loving her in equal measures. Thor stood by his brother's side, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Fight for yourself, Loki. She fought for you wholeheartedly, and she wouldn't want you to completely give in. Fight for _you_." Loki met Thor's gaze, unwilling or unable to speak.

"What happe- oh _shit_." Tony skidded to a halt next to the two gods and stared down in horror at Lily. His face shield was open, allowing the entire world to see the impact the dead girl had on him. He looked at Loki, about to beat the living crap out of him, but saw the desolation in the lonely god's eyes and thought better of it. Loki shook his head sourly and turned away from the body. He walked to the edge of the roof and stared off it, observing all the people in the streets looking about them and seeing the destruction that they had caused. He considered jumping off the building, but he knew that he would either survive the fall or Thor would stop him. Loki had reached a dead end, but was still trying to travel _somewhere_. Her caring nature had taken its toll on Loki, and he had lost control – he should've known that it couldn't last, that they couldn't continue treading the thin rope they were walking on without one of them falling. Thor joined him on the roof's edge, followed by Tony and Banner, who was no longer large and green.

"I am certain that Lily will become one of the honoured dead in Valhalla. She is in a good place now." Loki looked scornfully at his brother.

"For once, brother, would you _please_ be quiet?" He asked sharply. Banner was talking hurriedly into his phone, clearly informing the other agents of Lily's passing. Loki had never felt this sort of crippling loss before, but intended to hide it as best as he could. He studied his hands, and vowed that he would never use the energy that had killed Lily again. The pain outweighed all his pride in what he had done, and he was full of hatred for himself.

To put it simply, he was in complete ruins.

The four men stood there for a long time, waiting for the other Avengers to join them. They all steadfastly refused to look back at Lily's dead body, each considering different things. Loki was wishing that he'd done as she asked earlier, torturing himself with the knowledge that she would still be alive had he done so. Thor was attacking himself mentally for ever allowing her out of his sight. Banner was wondering about the future Lily might have had. Tony was recalling their few conversations, and hoping that _he'd_ done enough good in his life to join her in Valhalla (or wherever) after death to have a few more.

Footsteps brought the four out of their reverie and they realised that Natasha, Clint, Steve and Jane had arrived. There was silence. The men on the edge of the roof didn't turn around, and the other four didn't make any move to join them. A timid voice broke the quiet.

"Where is she?" Jane looked across the rooftop, but couldn't see the body of her friend anywhere. Thor whipped round and moved towards Jane, searching for Lily's body, but he couldn't see it either. Stark and Banner looked too, but no one could see the missing body of the 18 year old.

"Lily?" Natasha called, with more than a _little_ hope colouring her voice. Loki finally turned around and surveyed the group pitifully. How typical of them to have hope when all was lost.

"She's dead."

"But she's disappeared!" Jane was rather adept at pointing out the obvious.

"The amount of energy that I...that went through her body killed her. While she was still breathing, it had an outlet, even though that outlet was not enough to rid sufficient energy from her body to stop the effects of it. After her heart stopped, the energy couldn't escape her, and probably vapourised her. She isn't here anymore. The energy ripped her apart down to the very essence of her being." Loki sounded angry, and for good reason – he knew exactly what had happened, for he was the one to have caused it. Jane let a sob escape and Thor wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to cry into his breastplate. Clint rested a hand on Natasha's shoulder, who seemed shell shocked, and Steve, Tony and Bruce simply stared at each other, communicating wordlessly. They turned to Loki, who looked incredibly small through his dejection even though he was over six foot, and surrounded him.

"Time to go, Loki." Tony said, almost kindly. He knew that Lily's death had hit the god much harder than he wanted to let on, and for all everyone's misgivings, he believed that Loki had genuinely cared for the girl. He didn't know what fate awaited the God of Mischief, but he was sure that whatever punishment he was given on Asgard couldn't match the mental torture the god was putting himself through.

One by one, they left the roof, leaving behind a smashed transmitter and the atoms of a girl who had died for the sake of her planet.

_Did you try to live on your own,  
When you burned down the house and home?  
Did you stand too close to the fire  
Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone?_

_When it's time to live, and let die,  
And you can't get another try,  
Something inside this heart has died,  
You're in ruins._

_One, 21 guns, lay down your arms, give up the fight,  
One, 21 guns, throw up your arms into the sky  
You and I._

**Epilogue will be coming in the next couple of days. Please review and let me know what you think, I wasn't sure that this turned out how I wanted it to (read: I hate writing in 3****rd**** person).**


	16. Epilogue: The Aftermath

**Epilogue: The Aftermath**

**So before I start with the chapter, I have a few things to say. Readers, prepare yourselves for possibly my longest AN ever.**

**Firstly, a HUGE thank you to all of my reviewers: both the signed and anonymous ones, the people who reviewed one chapter or every chapter. You are all awesome.**

_Snowberryxoxo, Wolf-Of-Herkimer, EmbraceYourFREAK, Batattax, Marskatr, GRuth, TruffleHead, Kalvinanne, DGfleetfox, GoggleBox, booklover1498, xxxemobeccaxxx, Me And My Alter Egos Inc, Divatox240, Wolflihood, Truly Dangerous, Oriheiwa, WickedLovelyDream, Dragonrain218, , Hufflepuff Hex, TheHoneyBadgerNight, EvilsApprentice, ChelsieLynn, Catwoman90808, Unc0waterm3lon, MagicalElf73, Vampheart410, MikaCheshire, Silver-Moon-Light94, 8. B. R. Adford, Koneko97, LadyGrimR, BeautifulButBrokenxx, Flopperstein, Whynotlive, MisplacedLevity, Lord-Cas, EmptySequence, Akatsukigirl3974, Lenachenkov, xxEm'n'JJ4evaxx, I LOVE JACK ATLAS, FamiliarTasteOfPoison, PhoenixSongs, HPAsherra, StrawberryField4EverAndAlway s, Zoeth, .Doll, Vex Matthewson, RachelDare, Imaginemeruler, Dontgotaclue88, Azura Soul Reaver, Musicluver246, BVBLover4eva, Wolfshadow32, Ghost of the old age, Almighty Caligula, 0x0UnderDog0x0, Kaica, Joanamidena, My name is Birdie, hannahiscoollike, stabbythings, Elvendreams, TheMagentaColor, comiccrazygothgirl, Ginnytwin95, ongreenergrass, Bloody-kick-ass, ayatsuko, SarcasticSarcasm, La Bella Figura, TheGirlWithTheOnyxRose, QueenOfAcex3, RememberTheMuse, RunningQueenx5, I'mGoingToWiticha, NightHawkandDragon, Hikari-no-Rose, KiraMizuka, HugsFluttershyHeart, Nymartian, Azalia Fox Knightling, xDelenaxForeverx, Sinario _**and of course, the unsigned/anonymous reviews **_Meg, rosiakatraven, Pergjithshme, Abbie, Anon, Reviewer, loki-love, anon, Neon Knightly, Anonymous, Mew, Kenzerooni, Jen, , loserkid, Lowri(iii), Amber yes me Amber, rayannaydg, Isuna, XxJellyxX, Kenny and Volatile._

**Apologies if I missed anyone off/spelt their penname wrong – wasn't intentional!**

**Secondly, thank you to EVERYONE who favourite, alerted or read this story. It's had the biggest reception of pretty much all my other stories put together, and I cannot begin to say how much that means to me. Seriously. You have made me one of the happiest people on FF.**

**Finally, I've had a few people ask me to continue this story. There are three options that I can see:**

**-I leave it as it is, and possibly write another Avengers story in the future that could tie in with this fic, but has a different pairing (using a different Avenger).**

**-I attempt to continue with this story past this epilogue with some randomness that I haven't planned yet.**

**-I post a sequel sometime in the future that would **_**probably**_** end up being quite clichéd because I wrote all the interesting stuff in this story, bearing in mind that every time I attempt to write a sequel to a story, I lose motivation pretty fast. ~EDIT - I HAVE POSTED THE SEQUEL, PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY NOTE ON THE NEXT 'CHAPTER' WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED THIS! THANK YOU!~**

**So...yeah. If I don't see you again on here, there are several other ways to stalk me on the interwebs – you can see my fangirling on Tumblr (s0changable), my random ramblings on Twitter (saskaphone) and even my face (**_**she has a FACE?**_**) on YouTube (I'm one third of TheExplodingLlamas, along with Jen-who-Lily-is-based-on and some random person called Amber. I also feature occasionally on Phoony2's channel, most memorably in her video Badgersbadgersbadgers. Oh god...definitely DON'T watch that video, it's mortifying). ENOUGH SHAMELESS SELF PROMO, SASKIA!**

**Again, a HUGE thanks to everyone, I hope I didn't damage your feels too much...  
No copyright infringement intended, I own only the plot and my OCs. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is unintentional...apart from Lily, who **_**is**_** supposed to resemble Jen. Sorry about your feels. I suppose you should get the BIGGEST thank you too. So. Yeah. Um. Thanks for being awesome? The story is dedicated to you? Okay, I'm going to drink tea now.  
On with the story! (The first bit is a sorta montage thing like at the end of the Avengers film – hopefully it makes sense).**

"_The clean-up operation has begun after the horrific events that rocked the state last week. Funeral parlours are being inundated with families who want to put the devastation behind them, but many people are still missing, and calls for the President to address the issue have as yet gone unanswered. There are still many questions about the source of peoples' actions, and Tony Stark yesterday released a statement, saying only that the 'Avengers' did all they could to contain the damage, and that the cause of last week's riots and fighting would announced once all the citizens of the city have been accounted for..._

"_These claims are ridiculous! There's no way that these happenings are the result of mass hypnosis – it was clearly some sort of cult initiation gone wrong!" said Joss Whedon, who is waiting for news of his family, along with so many others in this devastated city. Many people have similar theories; everyone wants answers, but one thing is certain: America had a narrow escape. Back to the studio."_

**~X~**

"Loki Laufeyson, we showed you mercy once before, and you threw our kindness into the dirt, treating it with no respect or gratitude. After your most recent actions on Earth, many have called for your execution, to rid Asgard of your stain. I was inclined to agree with them. I am ashamed of you, Loki, make no mistake."

**~X~**

"Thor said that this time, there wasn't much hope for Loki staying alive. Then again, he also said that from what he could tell, Loki wasn't really very interested _in_ staying alive for much longer, so I imagine that he'll hardly fight for any sentence other than execution. It's a pity, really. I think being round Lily made me think that if he tried, he could be one of the strongest allies we have. Lily's judgement may have been a bit skewed, but she was a good kid. Exactly the sort of person I'd want backing me up if I got in trouble." Doctor Banner nodded in agreement with his friend.

"I wish that I'd known her better. She obviously had a lot of demons, but she had such a future ahead of her, I know. I'm certain that had she...survived that fight, S. .L.D would've wanted to snap her up straight away."

"She'd probably have something very quick witted, sarcastic and immature to say about that – that girl had something to say about everything!"

**~X~**

"However, there are those who believe in your good nature. Thor is one, and Lily Girling is another. She gave Thor a letter before she died, requesting that when your fate was being decided, it would be read out, as she would not be allowed to attend your trial. Even though she is no longer with us – because of you, might I add – we took her letter into consideration. The court have already read it, and feel that you should listen to its contents as well before we inform you of our verdict.

**~X~**

_To Odin and the court of Asgard._

_I know that many of you dislike me, and think that I shouldn't be on Asgard at all. However, in the time that I have spent in this realm, I have gotten to know Loki very well, and while I am well aware of his crimes, I believe that he should be given a chance at survival._

_I admit that execution would be the best thing for the sake of...well, the universe, in the short term. He would be gone, no longer able to plot and scheme over plans of world domination or whatever, and a really big threat would've been wiped out. He's not the only threat that the Nine Realms face though – I'm sure that there are bigger, badder people out there who could cause a hell of a lot more damage than Loki could even dream of._

_In the time I have spent with him, I have come to view him as a friend. As his friend, I can see the good in him, even if it isn't outwardly obvious. He should be shown mercy again. It would be the only way to get through his thick skull that people _want_ to care about him, and that they don't want to just give up on him. Eventually, I think he would show at least some repentance – you can't expect him to be a golden boy, he _is_ the God of Mischief, but don't you think that he is someone who you'd want on _your_ side, to fight against the bigger and badder people who have a god complex? I really do believe that killing him would just be the quick and easy way out, and sometimes, you've got to go in for the long haul._

_Okay, this letter has hardly been the most coherent of communications, so I'll cut it off here. The gist of it is that _I_ believe in Loki Laufeyson, and I believe that he isn't beyond all hope. He could still be a good person, and I hope that you give him the chance to be that good person._

_Regards, Lily Girling._

**~X~**

"So S.H.I.E.L.D ordered for her parents to be killed, and she saw that happening?" Jane's eyes widened at the red head in front of her.

"Their executions were ordered, and I was the one tasked with carrying them out. While she didn't see their actual deaths, she came downstairs only about a minute afterwards. Even then, she was a good talker. She managed to escape before I could give chase, and we didn't even know she was still alive until she appeared with Thor."

"She always seemed..._haunted_. She covered it up well, but even though I didn't know her very well, I knew that she had..._history_. It's no wonder she befriended Loki – he had issues just like her." Natasha nodded, resting a hand on the astrophysicist's shoulder. Neither woman had known Lily very well, but her passing had hit them both hard.

**~X~**

"It is in light of this letter and of your brother's pleas that we have decided not to execute you. However, we have already seen that imprisonment is not a suitable option for you, and therefore, we came to another verdict. You will be exiled to Earth, stripped of your powers, to live as a human for a minimum of 20 years. We have liaised with S.H.I.E.L.D, and it has been agreed that you will live with one of their capable agents for that time – this is non-negotiable, you will not be allowed to live on your own. You will live with an agent of their choosing who _will_ be able to overpower you if they have to. If there are serious issues that arise, you may be moved to stay with another agent. If after 20 years you have shown remorse for your actions, and made no move against a citizen of any of the realms, you will be returned to Asgard. This is mercy, Loki, and I hope you treat it as such. For all your actions, you are still my son, and it pains me to see what you have done. I know that much of it is through my own fault, which grieves me, but I look forward to accepting you back to the nobility of Asgard in the future. This is the court's decision, and it is final. If you take advantage of the leniency we have shown you, we will have no choice but to order your execution." Odin nodded to the guards standing on either side of a kneeling Loki and they pulled him to his feet, guiding him forcefully to the door. They were stopped by Thor, who studied his brother sadly.

"I am certain that we will see each other before long. Jane waits for me, and I intend to return to her as soon as I can." Loki said nothing, but nodded sharply. He was almost jealous of Thor – his human love was still accessible to him, even with the distance between them. No amount of travel could reunite Loki with his: even if he died, he doubted he would make it to Valhalla as he hoped Lily had done.

**~X~**

Loki stood in the hallway of his home for the next 20 years, dressed simply in dark jeans and a grey button down shirt. They were hardly uncomfortable, and he had worn similar clothes in the past, but he knew that it would take him a long time to get used to such fashion. Nick Fury stood behind him, watching the no-longer-god's reaction. He was certain that in time, Loki would thaw out slightly (hurr hurr hurr, Frost Giant, thawing out...), but at the minute, it was impossible to get a read on him. Fury could only hope that he would react well to the agent assigned to him – it was going to be difficult enough to keep an eye on him for 20 years, never mind if that time period was increased because Loki killed his guard.

"Your agent will be arriving in the next hour – they've had quite a distance to travel to get here, so be nice. And don't think that means you're going to be unsupervised for your first hour on Earth – you've got the pleasure of my company until they get here. I've got my eye on you." The director tilted his head at the tall, dark haired man, and he scoffed.

"Am I going to learn the _name_ of my...guard?" He asked, sounding thoroughly bored.

"I'll leave it to them to make the introductions – they are known to S.H.I.E.L.D as Agent Lazarus, but they'll probably tell you to call them something different. You just need to know that they are fully capable of taking you down if they need to."

"I don't doubt that." Loki answered, smiling. Fury rolled his eye and sat down.

"Go have a look round! You may as well familiarise yourself until Agent Lazarus arrives. They know everything about this place already, so go bring yourself up to speed." He crossed his legs and leant back in the chair. Loki nodded and walked off, still managing to strut majestically even without his big flowing cloak and godly status. Fury shook his head. That man was broken, yet somehow he still managed to hold his head high.

**~Agent Lazarus POV~**

I unlocked the door of the house I would be staying in for the foreseeable future and stepped into the hallway. It was a very nice house – I'm glad that the price of it hadn't come out of my paycheque. I slipped out of my coat and hung it up on a peg and offered my hand to Fury, who had stood up to meet me.

"It's good to see you looking well." I said politely and he smiled.

"Likewise. He's through in the kitchen being broody – I'll leave him in your more than capable hands. If you need anything, you know the number." I nodded at the boss and he swept out of the...my...well, _our_ house, shutting the door with a click. I approached the kitchen area, knowing my way around even though I'd never been here before – S.H.I.E.L.D are very thorough with their data.

The fallen god was standing facing away from me, hands clasped behind his back, staring at nothing in particular. I noticed a smashed vase in the corner, the flowers that had been in it already wilting on the floor. I was just wondering how to start the conversation when he spoke.

"There are very few people capable of sneaking up on me, so you may as well introduce yourself rather than trying to catch me by surprise." I grinned.

"Are introductions really necessary, sweetie?" I asked and he spun around, lightening fast, his eyes widening in shock and disbelief.

"Li-...Lily?" He stuttered and my grin widened.

"Hello, Loki. It's been a while." He moved to stand in front of me, staring at me as if he expected me to disappear. My eyes flicked over to one of the chairs tucked neatly under the table and I clicked my fingers at it, causing it to skid across the room and come to a halt just behind him. I gestured again and another chair followed it, stopping next to me. "I think we've got some catching up to do. Take a seat." Loki fell into the chair rather than sitting on it. It was funny.

"How...how is this possible?" He clearly couldn't comprehend the fact that _yes, Lily is real, she is sitting in front of me and what the hell, she moved a chair from the other side of the room without touching it, what is this mind fuckery?_ I reached for his hand but he flinched back away from my touch. Oh. Rejected. That's nice. Really. "You're dead."

"The evidence in front of you clearly begs to differ." I retorted sarcastically. "You shot me, yes. I died, yes. But then I woke up." He frowned. "The energy you sent into me restarted my heart after it had repaired my body. I woke up, good as new, and saw you, Tony, Bruce and Thor standing on the edge of the roof. Needless to say, I was majorly freaked out, so I made a run for it. When I ran...well, let's just say that I went considerably faster than I'd ever done before." He shook his head, his mouth opening and closing like a mute fish. "Just go with it, Loki. I don't pretend to understand exactly why it happened, so I can hardly expect you to. I ran a few miles away and then tested what I could do. I can run faster and further without getting tired. I can move things with my mind – like these chairs. I heal pretty damn quick. And I'm not dead, which is a bonus." I smiled at him, but he was still shielding himself from me. I sighed, leaning forward and taking his hands, ignoring his cringing away from me. I squeezed his fingers. "I'm real. I promise. I contacted S.H.I.E.L.D around a week after I left the roof, and they did all sorts of tests on me, before just deciding that my powers were an asset to them, and what the hell, we'll take her. When Thor got in contact with them, asking if they could provide a home for you if you were exiled, I was the first person they offered the job to. It didn't take much persuasion for me to accept." He locked eyes with me, the first time he'd made eye contact since I arrived.

"Why Lazarus?"

"There's a story in the Bible about a person who was brought back from the dead, and that person was called Lazarus. I'm hardly religious, but S.H.I.E.L.D decided it was appropriate, and I couldn't think of anything better, so Lazarus stuck. I'll ask to change it if I can come up with something equally suitable but several times more badass." He mmmmed, and I could see him hesitantly allowing hope to blossom in his eyes.

"So I'm staying with you?" I nodded, smiling gently.

"Aren't you a lucky Loki, eh?" I teased, standing up without letting go of his hand. "Come on. Let's explore."

"I've already looked around." I looked at him sternly.

"Not the point, Loki. We're exploring." And so we did. I searched the kitchen cabinets, stopping myself from nomming my way through the cake cupboard the moment I found it with difficulty. We looked around the living room, deciding that we didn't like the colour of the walls and that we'd have to repaint (that could be interesting...). I was pretty distracted when we reached the study by the big, shiny computer that was sitting on the desk, just _begging _for me to go over and turn it on and have a play, but Loki tugged on my sleeve and dragged me out of the room before I succumbed to the temptation. When we got upstairs, I paused. "According to the pictures S.H.I.E.L.D sent me, that's your room, that's my room, that's the spare bedroom and that's the bathroom. We both have en suites, so we don't need to share." I pointed to each room in turn and Loki nodded. "Everything's all kitted out for us, same as the rest of the house. I wanted to take you shopping, but Fury insisted that they'd deal with your wardrobe. I've always wanted to pimp out a helpless guy who knew no better..." I pouted in memory of that particular memory, and Loki snorted at my expression. I elbowed him in the ribs, and for the first time, my elbow came into contact with _him_ rather than his freaking breastplate. Hmmmm...helloooo...he really was very buff. Me gusta. I made for the door of my room, but I felt his hand close round my wrist and stop me.

"I'm glad you are alive. Truly."

"So I am." I quipped. My smile faded as we stared at each other. Time slowed down...I felt butterflies in my stomach...there was electricity crackling between us...the clichés are so pointless, but true. I don't know who initiated it, but suddenly we were kissing and oh my GOD yes, it felt so good, and he's an amazing kisser and YES PLEASE and nom and can I just kiss him nonstop for the next 20 years please? My arms were wrapped round his neck, his were wrapped around my waist and I stood myself on tip toes so I could reach his lips easier. We broke apart for a short second, and he chuckled.

"Miss me?" He asked.

"Yes. A lot." I answered frankly, pulling his mouth back to mine. A few minutes later, we separated again and I tilted my head at him, pulling on the ends of his hair. "You know, I was thinking that I'd take you to a barber's, but I'm fairly certain I've changed my mind. I _like_ your hair like this." I tugged it once more to prove my point, smirking. He cupped my face, touching his lips to mine again, and I could feel him murmuring words into my mouth – I couldn't hear them, but I got the general gist, if you get what I'm saying. Pretty soon, I lost my chain of coherent thought, and as we stumbled towards his bedroom door, I couldn't help but feel that I'd finally found home, here with Loki.

**~FINIS~**

**Please leave me a review whether you're reading this two hours, days, months or YEARS after this chapter was posted, because I'd still love to know what you think!**


	17. X

**NOTE**

**Bet you thought I'd written another chapter. Ehehehe. LOKI'D!**

**I haven't written another chapter of this story but I HAVE (drumroll please) started another Avengers story. In fact, that new Avengers story is actually a SEQUEL to this one. I had planned to write a Natasha/OC story before going for a sequel, but I had plot bunnies for this and none for Tasha, so my whole brain just went WHAT THE HELL. You can find the new story on my profile under the title 'Criminal' (I think I've got a theme going here now, guys).**

**I thought I'd take this opportunity to address a few issues raised in reviews about this story, and how I intend to avoid such issues in the next. You don't have to read this bit, but it might clear up some stuff for you.**

_**Lily seems very childish and immature for her age, and the language she uses is juvenile.  
**_The way I see it – and as I am the author, my word is kinda gospel – Lily kind of completely missed out on her childhood. To begin with, her parents were forcing maturity on her in the training which they gave her, and then she spent many years on her own looking after herself. When she turned 18, she let herself relax a little more, and allowed the childish comments and mannerisms that were buried surface a little more. She's very worldly wise, but at the same time is trying to regain her childhood.

As for her language – I'm a 15 year old writing an 18 year old. It's difficult to get a balance, but I think the above paragraph pretty much covers it.

And as for other people saying that Lily doesn't stay in character...pardon me, but considering she is _my_ character, I think I can decide what her personality is like and which aspects of it shine through as different times?

_**You put Author's Notes in the middle of the story, aksjdhkaslda WHHHHYYYYYYY?  
**_Quite simply, I know it's a bad habit, but it's actually kinda unintentional. As I write and (for example) I do some character-name research, I make a note of it to remind myself to mention it at the end. 95% of the time, I then forget to move the note to the beginning or end of the chapter and it stays in the middle of the text. My bad, I'm sorry. I will try harder with my editing, I promise ^_^

_**If you do a sequel, can we have some adult content, ehehehe.**_**  
**I'm 15. I'm not even allowed to have sex by law. If you want adult content, I will happily redirect you to some fics which contain it (I mean, be honest, everyone who reads fanfic has read smut at some point, especially if it's in the middle of an insanely good story that you don't want to stop reading), but I won't be writing any. Even when I turn 16 (in November), I still won't write smut, because of reasons. I can be quite suggestive, but never explicit. Sorry!

When I told Jen-who-Lily-is-based-on that I wouldn't be writing smut, however, she was very disappointed (as she's one of those who wanted me write it), and texted me some smut to put in. Here is her version of what happened at the end of Jailbait (fanfiction of fanfiction, dear god...)

_~X~_

"_Loki! Your face is so prettyful! Could your jeans be any tighter? LOOK AT YOUR CROTCH! JESUS CHRIST! I WANT YOUR BABIES! I CALL THIS MOVE THE OH YEAH PIGGEH SLIDE. NOW JUST TAKE ME, MY BODY IS READY!"_

"_Ermmm...Lily, are you high?"_

"_NEVER MIND I'LL FIND SOMEONE LIKE YOOOOUUUUU!"_

"_Right, I'm phoning Fury, I'm worried about you."_

"_IS YOUR CHEST HAIRY? LET'S HAVE A LOOK!"_

"_Get off me!"_

"_But I LOOOOOVVVVEEEEE YOU!"_

"_I love you too, but please stop touching my crotch."_

"_ME GUSTA."_

_~X~_

That didn't happen anywhere other than in Jen's head, mind you. But I thought you might want to read it anyway.

_**Will you still be replying to reviews? (Okay, this wasn't raised by another person, but I thought I should mention it).**_**  
**Okay, so this story ended up getting 30 odd reviews per chapter, which a) made me fall of my chair several times in shock and b) led to me spending nearly an hour a day responding to them all. It may not seem very much, but it is, trust me. It is therefore with regret that I say that I WILL NO LONGER REPLY TO EVERY REVIEW I GET. If you have a question or suggestion etc, then I will most probably message you back to say thank you or answer your query etc, but if your review is a simple 'Great job!' or 'OMG I'M CRYING YOU AKSHDLKASHDHKDASL', then I won't reply – don't get me wrong, I love all the reviews I get, and appreciate the short ones just as much as the long ones, but I think it would be better for me to spend my time writing more of the story than replying to every review I get. I'M SORRY! You can still message me and everything, I'll reply when I have time and suchlike, but I can't guarantee a reply to every review anymore. I feel like such a horrible person!

**So there you have it. Go check out Criminal – yes, there isn't much up yet, but there will be, I promise! As always, I can be found in various other places on the internet, such as Tumblr (s0changeable), Twitter (xsaskialouise) and Youtube (TheExplodingLlamas), so be sure to have a mooch around on there to find out what I'm doing when I'm doing it! (Okay, that sounds dirty...never mind).**

**Saskia xxxx**


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